


tlbe Tanlversttg of Cblcago 



SCIENTIFIC DETERMINATION OF THE CON- 
TENT OF THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 
COURSE IN READING 



A DISSERTATION 

SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY 

OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARTS AND LITERATURE 

IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF 

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 



BY 

Vv^ILLIS LEMON UHL 



Private Edition, Distributed By 

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO LIBRARIES 

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 



Reprinted from 

University of Wisconsin Studies in the Social Sciences 

AND History, Number 4 



Ube xantversttB of Cblcaao 



SCIENTIFIC DETERMINATION OF THE CON- 
TENT OF THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 
COURSE IN READING 



A DISSERTATION 

SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY 

OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARTS AND LITERATURE 

IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF 

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 



BY 

WILLIS LEMON UHL 



Private Edition, Distributed By 

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO LIBRARIES 

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 



Reprinted from 

University of Wisconsin Studies in the Social Sciences 

AND History, Number 4 



.lis- 



CfoiverGitsr 






<'i>=^ 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HISTORY 
NUMBER 4 



w SCIENTIFIC J.5ETERMINATI0N OF THE CONTENT 
p OF THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 

COURSE IN READING 



BY 

WILLIS LEMON UHL 

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION 



MADISON 
1921 



Za 



A. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Introductory Statement 5 

II. Method, Procedure, and Character of the Data 8 

III. General Results of the First and Second Question- 

naires — Widely Used Reading Selections 24 

IV. The Qualities of Reading Selections 36 

V. The Elimination of Undesirable Reading Selec- 
tions - -■- 60 

VI. The Detection of Superior Reading Selections... 17 

VII. Informational Material for the Course in Reading 90 

VIII. The Relation of Reading Selections to the Grading 

in Various Schools 102 

IX. The Placement of Reading Selections 108 

X. Summary and Conclusions 147 



CHAPTER I 

INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT 

Elementary school reading has been criticized adversely on 
several grounds. (1) It has been said that the content is 
too limited in many courses of study. (2) It is said that 
material which is over-mature in content and form is attempted, 
thus entailing the expenditure of much time in analysis and 
explanation. It is alleged in this connection that a more care- 
ful grading would enable the pupils to read and to enjoy more 
material than is now read. (3) The over-maturity of con- 
tent and the consequent need for explanation render silent 
reading difficult if not impossible. (4) Many selections are 
read and re-read or presented in different versions. This pro- 
cedure, it is held, leads not only to a waste of time but also 
to a loss of interest of pupils. (5) It is said that many 
series of readers are compiled wath a view to giving drill upon 
certain difficulties or exemplifying literary forms, and that 
readers thus organized provide much material which is unde- 
sirable for school use. Such criticisms together with a desire 
to remedy existing conditions led to the present investigation. 

Purpose of the Present Investigation 

The series of investigations reported in the following chap- 
ters was undertaken, therefore, for the purpose of studying 
the content of elementary school reading courses and with a 
view to formulating plans for improving it. This general pur- 
pose includes three minor ones, each of which will be consid- 
ered in detail : first, the elimination of unsuitable reading ma- 
terial ; second, the detection of superior reading material ; and, 
third, the accurate placement of this superior material. 

The Outcomes of Elementary School Reading 

Inasmuch as the course in reading is a part of the necessary 
training of students in all other school courses, instruction in 
the art of reading leads to a wide variety of outcomes. The 



6 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

following formulation of outcomes is presented in anticipation 
of analyses of reading material now in use and the comments 
of teachers and pupils upon this material. This formulation 
is introduced here because the determination of the content 
itself depends largely upon the character of the desirable out- 
comes. 

1. Mastery of the Mechanics of Reading. The mastery 
of the mechanics of reading includes (1) the automatization 
of rapid word recognition in oral and silent reading and the 
correct pronunciation of words occurring singly or in pas- 
sages; (2) the development of expressional processes such as 
proper inflection, pitch, and tone; (3) the development of skill 
in different kinds of reading, as careful reading, cursory read- 
ing, and reading for purposes of reference; (4) the enlarge- 
ment of the reading vocabulary so as to include the ability 
to read (a) informational non-literary material such as news- 
papers, popular science books, easy biography and travel, and 
first-year high school books, and (b) belles lettres. 

2. Ability in Interpretation. Ability in interpretation 
includes the ability (1) to understand the content of passages 
read; (2) to analyze what is read; (3) to select the points of 
interest in reading matter; (4) to assume the author's point 
of view; and (5) to apply the content to situations other than 
those presented in the material read. 

3. The Development of General Culture, This general 
outcome includes (1) the cultivation of ability to enjoy what 
is read; (2) training in further pursuance of thoughts sug- 
gested by the selections read; (3) an acquaintance with a va- 
riety of literature — (a) literary masterpieces to be enjoyed 
and to serve as standards .of literary taste and (b) informa- 
tional literature dealing with current affairs, scientific inven- 
tions, biography, etc. ; and (4) practice in dealing with prob- 
lems involving nature, interesting action, character study, mo- 
rality, and other social matters. 

Means for Attaining the Outcomes 

1. Means for Attaining Mastery of the Mechanics of 
Reading. In the lowest grades, readers have been care- 



INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT 7 

fully constructed so that each lesson presents only a few new 
words. Certain readers are criticized for restricting too great- 
ly their content in order to ensure a simple vocabulary. Other 
readers, when offering more varied and interesting content, are 
criticized for presenting too many new words in each lesson. 
In order to avoid both difficulties, cumulative stories provid- 
ing drill have more recently been used. Drill upon the ex- 
pressional factors of reading greatly influenced the content 
of older readers ; teachers even now refer to certain selections 
as contributing especially to the development of effective oral 
expression. The development of skill in silent reading re- 
quires that a large amount of material of different types be 
provided. A closely related demand calls for a variety of ma- 
terial for practice in careful reading, cursory reading, and read- 
ing for purposes of consultation. 

2. Means for Developing Ability in Interpretation. The 
development of ability in interpretation requires content which 
presents problems, interesting situations, or points of view pro- 
viding opportunities for the activity of pupils in selecting, ana- 
lyzing, and making applications. The selection entitled The 
King of the Golden River is an example of material which 
offers training in these aspects of interpretation. When this 
story is used in the later grades, the activities of the characters 
are within the pupils' understanding, and, after analytical 
study, are found to exemplify the author's attitude toward 
such traits as selfishness, adventure, and kindness. 

3. Means for the Development of General Culture. Gen- 
eral culture requires ( 1 ) selections embodying qualities which 
add to pupils' interests ; (2) selections having a wide range of 
application; (3) selections possessing literary merit; (4) se- 
lections containing interesting information; (5) selections in 
which there are opportunities to apply the content so as to ra- 
tionalize emotions toward moral situations, and selections por- 
traying social situations which foster (a) the discussion of 
such qualities as faithfulness, kindness, and sympathy, or (b) 
cooperative activities such as dramatization and constructive 
work, and (c) selections which suggest other interesting prob- 
lems. 



CHAPTER II 

METHOD, PROCEDURE, AND CHARACTER OF THE 

DATA 

Up to the present time, several methods of selecting subject 
matter for the elementary school course in reading have been 
followed. A method commonly used is that in which the com- 
piler of a series of readers chooses the content upon the basis 
of personal interests and standards of value. A similar 
method is that in which a city superintendent in cooperation 
with one or more teachers selects material upon the basis of 
its apparent interest and worth and the teaching value as de- 
termined by ordinary experience in a single school or in a few 
schools. Another method is that employed by persons who 
have carefully tried out for a period of years a large number 
of reading selections with a view to selecting the most suc- 
cessful ones. The published statements accompanying the 
various readers now in use imply that one of these methods 
or a combination of them has been followed. Definite formu- 
lations of standards do not appear to have been made. 

These empirical methods by their emphasis upon certain 
reading selections and the gradual rejection and elimination 
of others have led to a rough standardization of reading ma- 
terial. The criticisms at the beginning of Chapter I show, 
however, that limitations in the application of these methods 
exist. One limitation is the tendency to overemphasize sub- 
ject matter, instead of giving sufficient consideration to the 
interests and maturit}- of pupils. Criticisms of the results of 
using these methods show that data from a large number of 
school systems are needed in order to formulate legitimate 
standards for choosing reading material. These data should 
indicate (1) the range of selections now in use; (2) the degree 
of success of these selections; and (3) the reasons for success 
or lack of success. 



METHOD, PROCEDURE AND CHARACTER 9 

The Method of This Investigation. Two methods have 
been followed in this investigation: first, reactions have been 
obtained directly from teachers and pupils upon selections read 
m school ; and, second, these reactions have been studied with 
a view to formulating plans for selecting and standardizing 
the material of the reading course. Instead of accepting the 
judgments of a few teachers or of experts more or less closely 
associated with teaching, we have thus drawn upon the ex- 
perience of a representative number of teachers actively en- 
gaged in administering the reading course. From them we 
have learned what material is now in use and also their judg- 
ments of the success of this material. 

The Procedure. The following outline shows the form of 
procedure followed in obtaining the reactions from teachers 
and pupils to reading matter : 

1. Reactions to basal reading matter. 

a. From teachers. 

Questionnaire I: Analytical questions on the content of 

basal readers. 
Questionnaire II: Classified lists of titles of selections 

sent to teachers for their comments. 

b. From pupils. 

Representative selections presented directly to pupils. 
Pupils' interest in the selections measured by asking 
them to state whether they liked or disliked each se- 
lection and why. 
Pupils' comprehension of the selections measured by 
questions on the selections read. 
2. Reactions to new informational literature. 

a. From teachers. 

Questionnaire sent to teachers who had used this liter- 
ature. 

b. From pupils. 

Informational selections presented to pupils with the 
request that they state whether they liked or disliked 
them and why. 

Character of the Data 
(1) Teachers' Judgments on Standard Selections. Ques- 
tionnaire I. An attempt was made so to present the first 
questionnaire that teachers would judge both the grading and 
the general character of the selections reported on. In order 



10 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

to keep the teachers within the bounds of their actual experi- 
ence and yet give them a fairly free hand in naming selec- 
tions, they were asked to report on the readers most used in 
their grades. The questionnaire follows : 

To the Teacher: Fill out the blanks carefully. Return to Super- 
intendent's ofSce by October 10th. 

City School Grade 

Name the one reader used most frequently in your grade 

Name selections in this reader which prove most successful for 
use in your grade as outlined below. Name the selection more 
than once if necessary. 

1. Name two selections which pupils ask to re-read most. What 
reasons do they give for their choice? 

a. Title Reason for choice 

b. Title Reason for choice 

2. Name two selections which the pupils discuss most enthusi- 
astically. Name the point of special interest in each. 

a. Title Point of interest 

b. Title Point of interest 

3. Name the selection most effective in stimulating pupils to do 
Independent thinking. Give reason. 

Title Reason 

Name the selections in this reader proving most unsatisfactory 
for your use in your grade as outlined below. 

1. Name two selections which your pupils say they dislike. 
What reasons do they give? 

a. Title Reason for dislike 

b. Title Reason for dislike 

2. Name two selections about which you are unable to provoke 
discussion. State cause of difficulty. 

a. Title Cause of difficulty 

b. Title Cause of difficulty 

3. Name one selection which the pupils cannot understand be- 
cause the content is too mature. 

4. Name the selection with which you secure poorest results. 
Why? 

Title Reason for choice 

Signature 

This questionnaire was sent in September, 1915, to cities 
the superintendents of \yhich had previously indicated a will- 
ingness to cooperate in the investigation. These cities were 
selected as representative of conditions in the country as a 



METHOD, PROCEDURE AND CHARACTER 11 

whole.^ The superintendents were asked to distribute cards 
bearing the questionnaire to teachers upon whose judgment in 
such matters reHance could be placed. Replies were received 
from 2,253 teachers from 80 cities located in 25 states and the 
District of Columbia. Table I shows the number and distri- 
bution of teachers responding for each grade. 

TABLE I. THE RESPONSES TO THE FIRST QUESTIONNAIRE. 

The Numbek and Distribution of Cities From Which Responses 
Were Received and of Teachers Who Responded 

Grades I 

Cities 40 

Teachers . . . 184 

The following copy of one of the teachers' responses is a 
fair sample of the returns (Baldwin and Bender Reader, 
Grade V) : 

1. Two selections which the pupils ask to re-read most. 
The Sportsman. — They like to play or act it. 

The Finding of Mabon. — Because it is about knights. 

2. Two selections which the pupils discuss most enthusiastically, 
together with the point of special interest in each. 

The Story of Bucephalus. — Alexander's success. ' 
The Choosing of Greyfell. — Testing the horses. 



II 


III 


IV 


V 


VI 


VII 


VIII 


Total 


75 


72 


80 


67 


55 


70 


68 


80 


361 


327 


376 


327 


185 


261 


232 


2253 



1. The following cities took part in the flrst questionnaire: Akron, 
O. ; Altoona, Pa.; Ann Arbor, Mich.; Athens, O. ; Bang-or, Me.; Battle 
Creek, Mich.; Brockton, Mass.; Burling-ton, la.; Butte, Mont.; Calumet, 
Mich.; Canton, O.; Cedar Rapids, la.; Charleston. S. C. ; Cincinnati, O. ; 
Cleveland, O. ; Clinton, Mass.; Columbus, Ga. ; Columbus, O. ; Creston, la.; 
Davenport, la.; Decatur, 111.; Des Moines, la.; Dubuque, la.; East Chi- 
cago, Ind.; Elgin, 111.; Elmira, N. Y.; Erie, N. Y.; Evansville, Ind.; Flint, 
Mich.; Hammond, Ind.; Harrisburg, Pa.; Holland, Mich.; Huntington, 
Ind.; Hutchinson, Kans.; Iowa City, la.; Indiana Harbor, Ind.; Jack- 
son, Mich.; Jamestown, N. T.; Johnstown, Pa.; Joplin, Mo.; Kingston, 
N. Y. ; Lafayette, Ind.; Lancaster, Pa.; Lansing, Mich.; La Salle, 111.; 
Lewiston, Me.; Lexington, Ky.; Logansport, Ind.; Louisville, Ky.; 
Manchester, N. H. ; Marquette, Mich.; Minneapolis, Minn.; Mishawaka, 
Ind.; Montclair, N. J.; Muncie, Ind.; Muskegon, Mich.; New Britain, 
Conn.; Newton, Mass.; Niagara Falls, N. Y. ; North Platte, Neb.; Ogden, 
Utah; Phoenix, Ariz.; Port Huron, Mich.; Pueblo, Colo.; Reno. Nev.; 
Richmond, Ind.; Rochester, N. Y. ; Saginaw, (East and West) Mich.; 
St. Joseph, Mo.; South Bend, Ind.; Spokane, Wash.; Springfield, O.; 
Springfield, Mass.; Syracuse, N. Y. ; Topeka, Kans.; Troy, N. Y.; Vin- 
cennes, Ind.; Wallingford, Conn.; Washington, D. C; and Wichita, 
Kans. 



12 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

3. The selection which is most effective in stimulating inde- 
pendent thinking. 

Who Is the Happiest Manf — Moral lessons must be reached by 
the children's own thought. 

4. The selection which is most satisfactory from every point of 
view. 

The Finding of Mabon. — Good moral lesson, interesting, and 
children like to play it. 

1. Two selections which the pupils say they dislike and their 
reasons. 

Elizabeth Eliza's Piano. — Stupid people. 

Tlie Kettle and the Cricket. — Not enough action. 

2. Two selections about which discussion cannot be provoked. 
A Happy Boy and His Playmate. — Too simple for this grade. 
The Kettle and the Cricket. — Children do not understand it. 

3. One selection which cannot be understood on account of over- 
maturity of thought. 

Not any. 

4. Name the selection with which you secure the poorest result.s. 
Eyes and No Eyes. — Speeches too long and not enough char- 
acter. 

After the returns from the first questionnaire had been 
tabulated, it was found that many standard selections had 
been named by large numbers of teachers. The questions were 
so worded, however, that selections with outstanding good or 
bad qualities were most likely to be mentioned. Also, the men- 
tioning of a selection depended upon its occurrence in a reader. 
Consequently, many standard selections were mentioned only 
a few times. In order to obtain more judgments on these 
standard selections, and judgments of many teachers of each 
of the successive grades on the same material, another ques- 
tionnaire was prepared. 

Questionnaire II. The second questionnaire, which was 
sent in February, 1917, was based largely on the results of the 
first. It consisted of titles of selections arranged in lists of 
about fifty for each of the eight grades. In order to obtain 
a uniform terminology, a descriptive list of desirable and un- 
desirable terms used in the responses to Questionnaire I was 
included with the directions for judging the selections. 

The choice of selections to be submitted in the second ques- 
tionnaire was determined on the basis of several considera- 



METHOD, PROCEDURE AND CHARACTER 13 

tions. Although close agreement existed in Questionnaire I 
upon some selections, there was either disagreement or a pau- 
city of responses upon other widely used selections. The sec- 
ond questionnaire was planned with a view to obtaining (1) 
confirmatory evidence upon certain selections which the earlier 
questionnaire had indicated as either desirable or undesirable 
— the lists were not as representative of inferior as of superior 
selections; (2) more ample comments upon selections regard- 
ing which the responses to Questionnaire I were divided ; and 
(3) judgments upon standard selections which were seldom or 
never mentioned in Questionnaire I. The descriptive list of 
qualities together with other directions was as follows : 

DIRECTIONS FOR JUDGING READING SELECTIONS 

1. On the following page is a list of selections which are widely 
used in your grade. The Committee on Economy of Time is desirous 
of securing the judgments of a large number of teachers with refer- 
ence to each selection. 

2. Rank, by numbering from one to fifteen in order of merit, 
the fifteen selections which you regard as being the best ones for 
use in your grade. Do this independently of the following work. 

3. Below Is a list of qualities which are to be used by you in 
giving your estimate of each of the selections. (You will need to 
write only the italicized part of the quality.) 

4. Below each selection with which you are familiar write the 
names of qualities which you consider as being uppermost in the 
selection. Be as specific as possible. When you name more than 
one quality in describing a single selection name the most im- 
portant quality first. 

5. On the back of the next sheet make more detailed analyses 
of two selections with reference to your own grade. Use the selec- 
tion which the pupils like best and the one which they dislike most. 
In these analyses use the following terms or other ones to designate 
the qualities which make the selections desirable or undesirable for 
your grade. Return the sheet by March 10. Keep this sheet. 

Desibable Qualities 

1. Interesting because of humor; variety of style or of material; 
dramatic, that is, exciting; interesting action, though not exciting; 
interesting repetition as in tales for lower grades; portrayal of 
home life or child life; personification; interesting people described 
or taking part in the action; interesting problems for class discus- 



14 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

sion; or because the story is well told. (State which of these qual 
ities makes the selection interesting to your pupils.) 

2. Within grasp because of the familiar subject matter, the dic- 
tion, the form of expression, or easy content. (State which.) 

3. A story of adventure, knighthood, romance, or heroism. (Stata 
which.) 

4. A valuable lesson for your grade because it cultivates expres- 
sion in oral reading; enlarges vocabulary by giving new words 
which are within grasp of the pupil; stimulates thought on account 
of interesting information or character study; presents good moral 
teaching; imagination stimulated. (State which.) 

5. Rhythm or rhyme particularly attractive or because your pupiia 
like rhythm or rhyme. (State which.) 

6. Festival element as in Christmas selections. 

7. Nature — the selection is good for use in nature study. 

8. Dramatization — appropriate for dramatizing. 

9. Animal play or about animals. (State which.) 

10. Fairy element, magic, or supernatural. (State which.) 

11. Faithfulness, kindness, or sympathy portrayed. (State 
which.) 

Undesirable Qualities 

1. Too mature because of hard words, hard or unfamiliar subject 
matter, too abstract material, liard symbolism. (State which.) 

2. Uninteresting because it has no story; too much repetition; is 
too long; not well told; unreal; too childish; monotonous; because 
poetry is disliked by your pupils; pupils are tired of it; scrappy, 
not enough of the story is told; characters disliked; or too didactic. 
(State which.) 

3. Moral teaching bad or moral too obvious. (State which.) 

4. Too sad or too depressing for pupils to enjoy. (State which.) 
The second questionnaire was sent to the cities which had 

cooperated in the first. RepHes were received from 741 teach- 
ers in 49 cities located in 16 states and the District of Colum- 
bia. The following table shows the number and distribution 
of replies : 

TABLE II. THE RESPONSES TO THE SECOND QUESTIONNAIRE 

The Number and Distribution of Cities From Which Responses 
Weric Received and of Teachers Who Responded 

Grades I II III IV V VI VII VIII Total 

Cities 46 48 47 46 48 43 44 46 49 

Tcachrra ;,5 BO 0?, 03 lOU h7 S7 83 741 



METHOD, PROCEDURE AND CHARACTER 



15 



In spite of the heavy demands made by this questionnaire, 
it was carefully treated by the teachers who responded. A 
large number of teachers copied the lists of selections to give 
themselves space for detailed comments on each selection. The 
most elaborate report consisted of eighteen pages of typewrit- 
ten material ; the briefest contained short comments on at least 
ten or twelve selections. The following copy of one of the 
reports shows the character of the most common type of re- 
sponses (Grade II) : 



SELECTIONS 
Latnhikin 

Robinson Crusoe 

Hans in Luck 
Town Mouse and Field 
Mous'i 

Piping Down the 

Valleys Wild 
The Hare and the 

Tortoise 
Sleeping Beauty 
Who Has Seen the 

Wind? 
I Saw a Ship a-Sailing 
Phaethon 
The Bell of Atri 

The Three Bears 

Little Red Riding Hood 
The Magpie's Lesson 
Dick Whittington and. 

His Cat 
The Three Little Pigs 

Androclus and the Lion 

East o' the Su7i and 
West o' the Moon 

The Old Woman Who 
Found a Sixpence 



COMMENTS 

Dramatic, interesting repetition, personi- 
fication. 

Interesting problems, imagination, adven- 
ture, nature. 

Interesting humor, cultivates expression. 

Within grasp, familiar subject matter, 
about animals. 

Hard symbolism. 

Dramatization, good morals. 
Imagination, nature. 

Easy content, rhythm. 

Child life, cultivates expression. 

Imagination, good moral, character study. 

Cultivates expression, kindness, good 
moral. 

Personification, dramatization, imagina- 
tion. 

Dramatic, personification, imagination. 

About nature, cultivates expression. 

Adventure, character study, good moral. 

Dramatic, interesting repetition, personi- 
fication, dramatization. 

Stimulates thought, interesting informa- 
tion, faithfulness, about animals. 

Fairy element, good moral. 

Interesting repetition, interesting action, 
easy content. 



16 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



The Flag 

The Bremen Band 

Eluge Else 

Titty Mouse and Tatty 

Mouse 
The Fox and the Croio 
The Pied Piper of 

Hamelin 
Henny Penny 

The Swing (Stevenson) 
My Shadow 
The Ugly Duckling 
Sweet and Low 
The Village Blacksmith 
How Mrs. White Hen 
Helped Rose 

Cinderella 
Belling the Cat 

The Little Red Hen 
Three Billy Goats Gruff 

Billy Binks 

The Golden Touch 

Aladdin and the 

Wonderful Lamp 
The Ant and the 

Grasshopper 
The Doll's Thanksgiving 

Dinner 



Dramatic, rhythm. 
Personification, dramatization. 



Interesting repetition. 
Personification, good moral. 

Supernatural, imagination, dramatization. 
Interesting repetition, personification, dra- 
matization. 
Child life, interesting action, rhythm. 
Child life, cultivates expression, rhythm. 
Good moral, interesting action. 
Home life, imagination, rhythm. 
Too mature — hard words. 

Personification, cultivates expression, 
good moral. 

Fairy element, imagination, good moral. 

Personification, dramatic, cultivates ex- 
pression. 

Personification, dramatization. 

Personification, dramatization, cultivates 
expression. 

Too mature — hard words. 

Magic. 

Magic, imagination. 

Nature, good moral. 

Festival element, child life, kindness. 



In addition to such carefully written responses as the fore- 
going, further evidence of the teachers' care is found in the 
more detailed analyses of the best and the poorest selections 
which were made. Two of the most frequently mentioned se- 
lections from Grade III were analyzed as follows: 

RoMnson Crusoe was the first choice of most third-grade children. 
Its charm lies perhaps in its vivid realism. The child lives and 
feels Robinson Crusoe's struggles and triumphs — his process of get- 
ting fire, shelter, food, and clothing forms a romance of interest 
and thrill to every child. 

The story serves as a stepping stone to geography and world his- 
tory. It correlates with the handwork a third grade child can do — 



METHOD, PROCEDURE AND CHARACTER 17 

weaving, modeling, and drawing. It can be accompanied by other 
literature that emphasizes the spirit of adventure, as Sinbad the 
Sailor, Columbus, and Hiawatha, — literature with more artistic 
value perhaps than Defoe's homely, forceful style. It opens an easy 
avenue of self-expression in language work. 

It is easy reading — within the word-concept and Imaginative grasp 
of the child. 

Daffy-down-dilly is liked the least by most pupils. It is old-fash- 
ioned, too long, and too didactic. The characters are uninteresting 
and disagreeable. It is not childlike, presenting rather an adult's 
viewpoint. Instead of emphasizing the joy of work, it presents a 
depressing, joy-killing theory that toil is found even in pleasure — 
and that to the children of the third grade. 

The care with v^hich both questionnaires were treated to- 
gether with the large number of responses adds greatly to the 
weight of the judgments. They were apparently from the 
more careful teachers of representative cities. Consequently, 
there seem to be adequate data upon these representative se- 
lections so far as the teachers are concerned. 

(2) Pupils' Reactions to Standard Selections. In order 
to get a different kind of data, the third part of this study was 
made in 1918 and 1919. This consisted of the presentation of 
selections directly to pupils and was carried on in four differ- 
ent schools. These schools were chosen because of the differ- 
ences in the character of the pupils. One is the University of 
Chicago Elementary School (School U) ; the other three are 
public schools in Evanston, Illinois (Schools A, B, and C). 
Table III shows the number and distribution of pupils who 
participated. The Evanston schools are located in three very 
different neighborhoods and may be classified fairly accurately 
as follows : School A, attended by pupils of the middle class ; 
School B, by pupils having access to home libraries, oppor- 
tunities for wholesome recreation, and ample financial means ; 
and School C, by pupils of the poorer classes with many for- 
eigners and negroes recently from the South. Pupils of 
Grades I and II were not used in this part of the investigation 
because of their inability to write their reactions. References 
to the schools throughout this study will be by letter as just 
designated. 



18 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 
TABLE III 



The Distribution of Pupils in the Four Schools Which Cogpek- 
ATED IN the Study of Reading Material 



Schools 


Number of Pupils per Grade 


Grades 


III IV V VI 


VII 


VIII 


T'l 


Evanston Public A 


56 
18 
18 


42 
32 
36 


1 


44 


73 


^15 


B 




50 


C 
University of Chi- 
cago Elementary 
School _ U 


38 
30 


37 

28 


26 
34 


17 


172 
9?. 










Total for all grades 


92 


110 


68 


65 


104 


90 


529 



The selections presented to the 529 pupils were chosen be- 
cause of their use in nearly every city responding to either 
questionnaire, the variety of appeals to children as stated by 
teachers, and their common use in more than one grade. In 
order to provide a uniform appearance of these representative 
selections, they were printed in seventy-page booklets. With 
the exception of the selection entitled Douglas and Randolph, 
the prose selections were re-adapted for this use. In making 
these adaptations, the different versions were carefully studied 
to enable the writer to render the selections in a form closely 
similar to the versions found in standard readers. 

Before presenting these selections to the pupils, the teachers 
were consulted and told the nature of the problem and of the 
work already done. It was explained that a sufficient number 
of teachers' judgments had been obtained and that at this time 
only pupils' judgments were desired. 

The following form shows the names of the selections used 
and the grades in which the pupils read them : 

Grades in which used are checked (v) 

SELECTIONS III IV V VI VII VIII 

The Leak in the Dike v v v 

Excelsior v v v v v v 

Phaethon v v v - 

The Village Blacksmith v v v v - 

The Ugly Duckling v v v 

The Barefoot Boy - v v v v v 



METHOD, PROCEDURE AND CHARACTER 19 

Dick Whittington and His Cat v v v v - - 

Ahou Ben Adhem - - v v v v 

Cosettc V V V - 

The Wreck of the Hesperus v v v v v v 

Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp v v v v v - 

Paul Revere's Ride - v v v v v 

The Wonderful One-hoss Shay - - - v v v 

The Oettysbiirg Address - - - v v v 

The Chambered Nautilus - - - v v v 

Douglas and Randolph - - v v v v 

Baron Munchausen Tales - - v v v v 

Marco Bozzaris - - - v v v 

Christmas at the Cratchits' - v v v v v 

What Constitutes a State - - - v v v 

The following copy of the directions to teachers shows the 
manner of conducting this portion of the investigation : 

PLAN FOR THE STUDY OF READING SELECTIONS 
This study of reading selections is being made in order to supple- 
ment the judgments of a large number of teachers who have already 
reported upon them. It is desired, therefore, that the real likes and 
dislikes of pupils be shown in the responses. Before beginning 
their reading, the children should have the general plan and pur- 
pose told to them in words about as follows: 

One of the teachers at Northwestern University is anxious to 
find out just what kind of stories and poems children like. He 
has already asked many hundreds of teachers about this. The 
teachers made out their lists from the readers which the chil- 
dren used. There may be many others which were not included, 
but these could not be judged because they were not in the 
readers which the children used. 

This teacher from Northwestern has gathered together the 
selections receiving a large number of votes and had them 
printed in this little volume. 

You may each have a copy to read over. Perhaps you may 
recall having read some of them before. If so, re-read to refresh 
your memory. Later you may tell on paper which ones you like 
best and why; also which ones you like least and why. Be very 
frank in expressing your opinions, because you can help most by . 
describing fully and truly your likes and dislikes. 

1. Ask pupils to read the selections for their grade without 
aid or discussion. All reading is to be done at school. 

2. After the reading has been done, ask the pupils to state on 
paper whether they liked or disliked each of the selections and 
why. Ask them to be as definite in replies as possible. The 
pupils should have their books for this work. 



20 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

3. Have a brief class discussion of the selections or parts of 
selections which seem most in need of such discussion. 

4. Ask the pupils to write responses to the mimeographed 
questions. Ask them to reply as briefly as possible. After the 
pupils finish their replies to each of the selections, ask them to 
state again whether or not they liked the selection. 

The pupils should have the books before them for all of the 
exercises. All of the work is to be done in school. If they want 
to use dictionaries of their own accord allow them to do so. The 
purpose here is merely to find out what the pupils can do with 
these selections. In the class discussions as directed under 3, try 
to avoid infiuencing the pupils' judgments. 

As shown by the copy of directions to teachers, the pupils 
passed judgment on the selections as soon as they read them 
silently. Follov^ing this first judgment, there was a short dis- 
cussion period devoted to questions which the pupils raised; 
that is, teachers were asked to take as little part as possible 
in this discussion. The pupils then, with the booklets open 
before them, wrote their answers to comprehension questions 
upon the selections. 

Following is a copy of the judgments of a girl of Grade VII 
in School A. It is a fair sample of the responses of that 
school. The pupils of School U gave longer responses ; those 
of School C, shorter. 

SELECTIONS COMMENTS 

Excelsior Dislike. Because for two reasons, first I 

don't understand it, second its object is 
not the kind I like. 
The Barefoot Boy Like it because it's full of fun and country 

life. 
Ahou Ben Adhem Dislike it because I don't imderstand it. 

The Wreck of the 

Hesperus Like because It shows daring and is exciting. 

Aladdin Like because it's different and shows selfish- 

ness and unselfishness. 
Paul Revere's Ride Like because it's exciting and a good turn. 
The One-hoss Shay Like because it's funny and interesting. 
The Oettysburg 
Address Dislike because I've heard it so many times 

and it is uninteresting. 
The Chamtered 
Nautilus Like because it shows beauty and describes 

well. 



METHOD, PROCEDURE AND CHARACTER 21 

Douglas and Randolph Like because it shows fighting In It and 

shows bravery and how certain people 

stick to a thing. 
Baron Munchausen Like because it shows when people brag 

they get beaten. 
Christmas at the 
Cratchits' Dislike because I've heard it so many times 

and is same as many other stories. 
What Constitutes a 

State Dislike because not any real object. 

The lists of questions used to test comprehension were ar- 
ranged so that for every four or five relatively easy questions 
there was one of greater difficulty. This plan served to keep 
the percentages for individual pupils about the same for the 
long lists of questions as for the short ones. The answers 
were marked either "Right" or "Wrong." Although the teach- 
ers were asked to have their pupils state again when answering 
the questions whether or not they liked the selections, only one 
class as a whole did this. 

Informational Reading Selections 

Up to this point in the investigation, all the judgments and 
tests dealt with traditional literature. As a result, very few in- 
formational selections were mentioned. Instead, the selections 
mentioned were characterized by teachers as possessing literary 
style and general appeal. Present-day interest in informational 
material led to an inquiry into pupils' interests in such literature 
and the results attained by using it. 

The material in this test was drav/n from a set of informa- 
tional selections published by the United States Bureau of Edu- 
cation in the Community and National Life Series.^ Fifty-nine 
teachers who had used the selections in this form were asked 
to state their opinions of them. The following directions were 



»Judd, C. H., and Marshall, L. C. : Community Leaflet No. 18, March 
1, 1918. Bureau of Education, VS^^ashington, D. C. The selections used 
are the following : Before Coins were Made, by Katherine McLaughlin ; 
Minting of Coins and Paper Money, by Ruth Reticker ; and Money in the 
Community and the Home, by Edwin A. Kirkpatrick. 



22 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

printed on the form sent to them in 1919. Copies of the form 
were distributed to teachers by their superintendents who, after 
time had been allowed for filling in the blanks, collected and 
returned them. 

DIRECTIONS SENT TO TEACHERS FOR JUDGMENTS ON 

INFORMATIONAL SELECTIONS OF THE COMMUNITY 

LIFE SERIES 

Please indicate in the columns headed "Grade Actually Tried" 
the grade or grades where you personally used the lesson named 
in the preceding column. (For this purpose call the first grade 
of the high school the ninth grade, and so on.) 

Rate the exercise in the column headed "Degree of Success" so 
as to indicate your judgment of how the particular lesson suc- 
ceeded, using letters defined as follows: 

A=highly satisfactory and understood by pupils. 
B=usable but not excellent. 
C=poor. 

D=complete failure. 
In the column headed "Grade Recommended," put a figure giving 
your judgment as to grade for which the lesson is appropriate. 

In the column for remarks, indicate in a word or two for each 
exercise which you rate A or D the chief characteristics which con- 
tributed to the result. Notes on others will also be welcome. 

The method of using this material with the eighty-two pupils 
of School A who reported on it was the same as for the stand- 
ard selections except that the comprehension questions were 
omitted. The reactions to this literature will be treated in de- 
tail in Chapter Vll. 

Summary 

This chapter calls attention to earlier methods of selecting 
content and presents criticisms of these methods. The method 
and procedure of the present investigation were devised to de- 
rive facts from the experience of teachers and pupils in many 
school systems. The representative character of the schools re- 
porting and the care with which the responses were written 
lead to the belief that the data give a reliable index of the atti- 
tude of the teachers of this country toward the content of the 
reading course. This statement is supported also by the fact 
that the teachers who reported were highly selected. In the 



METHOD, PROCEDURE AND CHARACTER 23 

first place, the superintendents of a large number of schools, 
though not necessarily the best ones, were asked to cooperate 
in the investigation. To this request, only superintendents who 
were willing to add to their regular duties are likely to have 
responded. Their interest in the problem is thus indicated. 
Later, when copies of the questionnaires were sent to the su- 
perintendents, the request was made that the copies be distrib- 
uted to teachers "upon whose judgment in such matters reliance 
could be placed." Besides enlisting able teachers, this plan 
tended still further to eliminate persons who might have been 
uninterested in the investigation. The responses of the pupils 
who took direct part in the investigation were obtained through 
the cooperation of teachers who volunteered to undertake the 
work. The frank, serious statements of the pupils indicate 
that they also made their judgments carefully. 



CHAPTER III 

GENERAL RESULTS OF THE FIRST AND SECOND 

QUESTIONNAIRES— WIDELY USED READING 

SELECTIONS 

The purpose of this chapter is to show the range of reading 
material now in use. In carrying out this purpose, sampHngs 
are made of the selections mentioned by teachers in the re- 
sponses to the questionnaires, together with a summary of the 
comments made. 

The Range of Selections Mentioned in Questionnaires 

I and II 

responses to questionnaire I 

The Number of Selections Catalogued from Teachers' Re- 
sponses to Questionnaire I. In Questionnaire I selections 
were catalogued from readers some of which are widely used 
while others are used only within a single state. Consequent- 
ly, many of the selections mentioned are found only in the re- 
sponses from a single city or state while others recur in re- 
ports from widely separated cities. That is, the range of 
widely used selections for each of the grades is about as great 
as the range of widely used readers permits. 

Table IV shows the number of responses received per selec- 
tion in Questionnaire I. It shows that in Grade I, 630 selec- 
tions were mentioned less than 5 times each; that 25 were 
mentioned more than 5 times but less than 10 times, and so 
on. Table V contains lists of the selections mentioned 10 or 
more times in the first questionnaire and the percentages of 
favorable responses. 

The Agreement Shown Between Teachers' Evaluations 
of Reading Selections. Table V shows that close agree- 
ment regarding the value of much reading matter exists among 
those who administer it. For example, The Gingerbread Boy 
was reported 33 times and favorably in each case, while Rose, 



GENERAL RESULTS FIRST, SECOND QUESTIONNAIRES 25 



TABLE IV 

The Frequencies with Which Different Selections Were Men- 
tioned IN Each Grade in Questionnaire I 





riie Number of Selections thus Mentioned 


Number of times 

Various Selections 

Were Mentioned 


I 

630 

25 

17 

3 

2 

677 
47 


II 



964 

16 

26 

14 

5 

4 

1 

2 


III 


IV 


ides 
V 


VI 


VII 


VI il 


1-4 

5-9 

10-19 

20-29 
30-39 
4049 


807 

59 

28 

12 

3 

2 

1 

1 


618 

71 

52 

14 

7 

1 

2 

1 


824 
36 
23 
6 
7 
2 
1 
2 


461 

25 

25 

4 

2 


612 

26 

29 

7 

2 


581 
14 
14 

1 

4 


50-59 
60-100 


1 


1 

3 


3 
2 


Total 


1,032 
68 


913 
106 


766 

148 


901 

77 


518 

57 


680 623 


Number mentioned 
five or more times___ 


68 


42 



Daisy, and Lily was reported 15 times and in all cases unfavor- 
ably. Similar cases are found in each of the grade lists : some 
selections are favored by all teachers reporting them while 
others are disliked by all. Still other selections, as The Vision 
of Sir Lawifal in Grade VIII, are variously valued: this se- 
lection is reported as the best in the readers used by 15 teach- 
ers and the poorest by 6 (Elson and Cyr readers, respectively). 
In all grades, however, nearly every selection reported was 
either favored by 85 per cent or more of the teachers or judged 
adversely by 85 per cent or more. 

Teachers' Classifications of Reading Selections in Ques- 
tionnaire I. The analytical questions of the first question- 
naire led teachers to classify roughly many of the selections 
which they mentioned. As examples of teachers' classifica- 
tions. The Gingerbread Boy is mentioned by 20 teachers as one 
which pupils often ask to re-read, and Santa Claus by 13 and 
12 teachers, respectively, as one which pupils frequently ask 
to re-read and as one which pupils discuss freely. The third 
question, which asked for the names of selections which pro- 
voke independent thought, led teachers frequently to mention 
selections which pupils also ask to re-read. Of the 38 selec- 



26 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



tions referred to 5 or more times as valuable for stimulating 
independent thought, 21 are also mentioned as often or oftener 
because pupils ask to re-read them. Furthermore, of these 38 
selections, 24 are mentioned 5 times or more because pupils 
discuss them enthusiastically. These, together with additional 
similar cases, show that selections which are sufficiently out- 
standing to be frequently mentioned for the cultivation of in- 
dependent thought are usually valued also for other reasons. 
Classifications of undesirable selections were made in the 
responses to the questions asking for the names of selections 
which pupils say they dislike and about which teachers can 
arouse no discussion. An example of such cases is the f ourth- 

TABLE V 



List of Selections Mentioned Ten or More Times in Questionnaire 
I AND the Percentage of Favorable Responses 



Grade I 



Fre- 
Selections quency 

Oinyerhread Boy 33 

Little Red Hen 33 

Little Boy Blue 22 

Three Little Pigs 17 

Christmas Story 14 

Cinderella 14 

The Squirrels 13 

Playing in Snow 12 

Who Is It? Santa Claus? 10 

Christinas Morning .... 10 



Pet 

favor- 
able 

100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 



How Mrs. White Hen 
Helped Rose 38 

Mr. and Mrs. Leghorn to 
the Rescue 20 

Cinderella 20 

Epaminondas and His 
Aunt 20 

Dick Whittington and 
His Cat 17 

The Robbers 16 

Old Woman and Her Six- 
pence 14 



Pet. 

Fre- favor- 
Selections quency able 

My Dream 10 100 



Santa Claus 28 

The Caterpillar 30 

The Bee 18 

The Star 11 

11 
11 
17 
15 



Clever Jackal 

Old Woman and Pig. . . 

The White Lily 

Rose, Daisy, and Lily. 



Grade II 

Queer Chickens 15 

100 Droioning of Mr. Leg- 
horn 16 

100 The Proud Crow 11 

100 James Watt 27 

The Cat and the Birds. 13 
100 The Bell o/ Atri 15 

The Starving of Mrs. 

100 Leghorn 14 

100 Who Is the Strongest?. 35 

How the Bean Oot Its 
100 Seam 20 



96 
93 
67 
46 
27 
27 
12 




80 

75 
73 
63 
62 
60 

57 
49 

45 



GENERAL RESULTS FIRST. SECOND QUESTIONNAIRES 27 



I'ABLE V — Continued 



Fre- 
Selectiona queacy 

Columlius 13 

Three Little Pigs 12 

Ruff's Adventure 12 

Three Billy Goats 12 

Clever Jackal 12 

Nathan and the Bear. . . 11 
The Little Steam Engine 10 

The Three Bears 52 

LaviMkin 42 

The Bremen Band 40 

RoMnson Crusoe 34 

The Pied Piper 34 

Little Red Riding Hood. 40 
When the Little Boy Ran 

Aivay 27 

The Little Red Hen 13 

Billy Sinks 83 

The Ant and the Mouse. 25 
The Wolf and the Kid. . 23 

Careful Hans 12 

Hans the Shepherd Boy. 11 

Golden Cups 22 

RoMnson Crusoe 21 

The Leak in the Dike.. 14 
Aladdin and the Lamp. . 14 
St. George and the 

Dragon 14 

David the Slinger 14 

h-ene the Idle 12 

Story of Columbus .... 12 
Androclus and the Lion 11 
Hans the Shepherd Boy. 10 
Hans Who Made the 

Princess Laugh 10 

The Tar Baby 74 

The Knights of the Sil- 
ver Shield 32 

The Fairy Wand 27 

Washington's Boyhood. . 19 

The Wishing Gate 43 

Black Beauty 29 

The Skylark's Spurs ... 14 



Pet. Pet. 
favor- BYe- favor- 
able Selections quency able 

100 The Giant of Brandbeg- 

100 gar's Hall 24 44 

100 Belling the Cat 47 40 

100 The Magpie's Lesson ... 62 37 

100 The Foolish Weather- 

100 cock 20 35 

100 Sinbad the Sailor 20 25 

98 Jackal and Lion 12 25 

98 Why Ravens Croak 10 20 

98 The Leaf's Journey 29 11 

97 Who Became King .... 10 10 

94 Victor and the Sea-Gull. 10 10 

93 Ama, the Sun Fairy ... 10 10 

Vndine 10 10 

93 Sweet and Loiv 10 10 

92 Ulysses and the Bag of 

89 Winds 14 7 

88 The Little Brook 33 6 

87 Discontent 28 4 

83 An Evening at Home.. 36 

82 Blanche and Her Aunt. 16 



Grade III 

100 The Peddler's Pack 

100 The Sleeping Beauty . . . 
100 The Sprite of the Mill. . 
100 Burning of the Rice 

Fields 

100 The Boy Who Hated 

100 Trees 

100 Wynken, Blynken, and 

100 Nod 

100 The Ugly Duckling . ^. 
100 Hercules and His La- 
bors 

100 Columbus and His Son. 

97 Daffy-down-dilly 

The Proud King 

97 The Endless Tale 

96 The Corn Story 

95 The Barefoot Boy 

93 The Czar and the Angel 

93 The Mad Tea Party ... 

93 The Wind and the Moon 



83 

82 
76 



12 75 



17 71 



11 


64 


56 


61 


15 


60 


14 


50 


15 


40 


14 


36 


23 


31 


11 


36 


10 


20 


34 


12 


21 


5 


20 


5 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



TABLE V— Continued 



Fre- 
Selectdona quency 

The Knights of the Sil- 
ver Shield 34 

The Bell of Atri 21 

TJie Brownies 10 

Cinderella 27 

The Bremen Band 26 

Benjij in Beastland .... 13 



Hoiv Little Cedric Be- 
came a Knight 51 

Florinda 33 

William Tell 27 

Out to Old Aunt Mary's 25 

The Little Acadian 24 

Roland the Noile Knight 23 

Tilly's Christmas 22 

A Boy Hero 16 

Tom, Dick and Harry. . 16 
Maggie's Visit to the 

Gypsies 14 

The Magic Prison 13 

The Leak in the Dike . . 12 

Willie Boy 12 

The Village Blacksmith 11 
Snow-white and Rose-red 11 
The First Thanksgiving 10 
A True Story ahotit Leo. 10 

Robert of Lincoln 10 

Dust Under the Rug ... 10 
Beowulf, the Brave 

Prince 25 

The Pied Piper 23 

Cosette 100 

Bahy Sylvester 17 

Aladdi7i 54 

Dick Whittington 15 

Paul Revere's Ride .... 13 

Roiinson Crusoe 12 

History of Tip-Top 12 

The Broken Flower-pot. 20 

Inchcape Rock 16 

Arthur's First Night at 



Pet 
favor- 
able 



91 
91 

90 
85 
85 
85 



Pre- 
selections quency 

The Flying Trunk 40 

The Maple 22 

The Crow 16 

The Crab and the Moon 15 
The Cricket on the 

Hearth 12 

Climbing Up the Hill. . . 11 



Gkade IV 

The Ugly Duckling .... 

100 The Nurnberg Stove... 

100 Sleeping Beauty 

100 Queen Alice 

100 Tom the Chimney Sweep 

100 King Alfred 

100 Little Charley 

100 A Strange Visitant 

100 The Snow Image 

100 Tom the Water Baby . 
The Spartan Three-Hun- 

100 dred 

100 Sir Isaac Newton 

100 The Emperor's N e w 

100 Cloak 

100 The Discontented Pen- 

100 dulum 

100 Water Babies 

100 The House in Bidwell 

100 Street 

100 The Heart of the Bruce 
Who Brought the Good 

96 News 

96 The Declaration of Inde- 

94 pendence 

94 Nuremburg 

93 The Day Is Done 

93 The Song of the Sower. 

92 Baron Munchausen 

92 Boyhood in the South . . 

92 Little Nell 

90 Nathaniel Haiothorne . . 

88 Last Lesson in French. . 

The Whistle 



17 
14 
13 
15 
30 
28 
12 
15 
28 
11 



Pet 

favor- 
able 

3 










65 
64 
62 
53 
50 
50 
42 
40 
36 
36 



16 31 

16 25 

13 23 

13 23 

18 22 



30 
11 



20 
18 



13 15 



21 


14 


11 


10 


10 


10 


13 


8 


37 


5 


36 


5 


20 


5 


19 


5 


18 


5 


30 


4 



GENERAL RESULTS FIRST, SECOND QUESTIONNAIRES 



TABLE V— Continued 

Pet. 



Frp- fi 
quency able 



Selections 

Rugiy 30 

The Wishing-gate 34 

A Brave Boy's Adventure 18 

Prince Ahmed H 

Hans Clodhopper 16 

Our First Naval Hero . . 10 

Sigurd 1^ 

Christmas at the Cratch- 
its' 12 

Brought to Trial 17 

The Golden Fleece 20 



'Nurn'berg Stove 62 

RoMn Hood 25 

Maggie's Visit 24 

Ulysses at the Cyclops. 12 
FIoio Little Cedric Be- 
came a Knight 12 

The Leak in the Dike. . 12 

William Tell H 

Beautiful Joe H 

King of the Golden River 11 

A Brave Boy 10 

The Simple Old Man.. 10 

Nuremhurg 31 

Patrasche 54 

The Sportsman 16 

Legend of Sleepy Hollow 14 
Horatius at the Bridge. 26 

Giant and Pygmies 25 

The Archery Contest . . 13 

Robinson Crusoe 31 

Cosette 20 

Tom the Chimney Sweep 10 
The Soldier's Reprieve. 10 

Aladdin 18 

The Man Without a 

Country 32 

Joan of Arc 1? 

Hiawatha 19 



Pet. 
Fre- favor- 
dueucy able 



87 
85 
83 
82 
81 
80 
80 

75 
71 
70 



Selections 

The Argonauts 48 

The Factory Boy 22 

A Letter to His Son 17 

Literary Biographies . . 16 

Duty 16 

Language 15 

Timothy's Incarnation.. 14 
The Sunken Treasure .. 11 
Child's Dream of Star. . 11 
Printing 10 



Grade V 



100 
100 
100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

97 

95 

94 

93 

92 

92 

92 

90 

90 

90 

90 

89 



84 



The Pygmies 10 

The Golden Touch 66 

The Pied Piper 14 

Arabian Nights 40 

The Fate of the Indians 13 

Darius Green 16 

Caleb and Bertha 14 

A Boy's Diving Trip 14 

Boston Massacre 10 

Pandora's Box 14 

Order for a Picture 11 

Paradise of Children . . 15 
The Great Stone Face.. 35 
Destrtictlon of Pompeii. 11 

Titania and Oberon 44 

Capturing the Wild 

Horse 25 

Industry 27 

The Blessings of Pov- 
erty 20 

Glimpses of the. Great 

Commoner 19 

Lying 15 

Daniel O'Connell 14 

Hatto the Hermit 14 

Sleep 13 

The Whistle 12 

Reverie of Poor Susan.. 11 



Kentucky Belle 



Grade VI 
24 100 Legend of Sleepy Hollow 21 



80 
79 
79 
78 
77 
75 
71 
71 
70 
64 
64 
47 
40 
36 
4 

4 












91 



so 



UNIVERSITY OF WlSCONSIIxf STUDIES 



TABLE V— Continued 



Pre- 
Quency 

. . 14 



Selections 

Bishop and Convict 

Legend of Bregenz 13 

The Courtship of Miles 

Standish 12 

Gulliver's Travels 12 

Sir Kenneth and the 

Flag 11 

Midget, the Return 

Horse 10 

Tom and Maggie 10 

Roiin Hood 10 

The Simple Old Man... 10 

King of Golden River . . 56 

The Pied Piper 16 

Christmas at the Cratch- 
its' 20 

Rip Van Winkle 39 



Pet Pet. 
favor- Fre- favor- 
able Selections quency able 

100 The Barefoot Boy 11 91 

100 William Tell 11 91 

Horatius at the Bridge. 31 90 

100 Robinson Crusoe 14 86 

100 Story of Ulysses 20 85 

The Revenge 12 85 

100 Story of Achilles 15 53 

Snowbound 16 50 

100 Little Daffy-down-dilly. 10 30 

100 Death of Socrates 11 18 

100 Fairyland of Science . . 10 10 
100 The Contest Betiveen the 

97 Man and the Cannon. 11 9 

94 Highest Aristocracy 13 8 

Good Books 12 

93 Bobolink 10 

92 Something About Books 10 



Grade VII 



Marco Bozzaris 15 

Legend of the Moor's 

Legacy 13 

The Prisoner of Chillon 12 

Snoxcbound 10 

Tribute to a Dog 10 

Christr.nis at the Cratch- 
its' 58 

Charley 57 

Legend of Sleepy Hollow 98 
Fitz-James and Roder- 
ick Dhu 21 

Rip Van Winkle 20 

Mr. Pickwick's Slide... 16 

Patrasche 15 

Williain Tell 15 

Horatius at the Bridge. 12 
The Courtship of Miles 

Standish 74 

King Arthur Stories ... 68 
Destruction of Pompeii. 16 
The Great Stone Face. . 31 

Evangeline 28 

King of Golden River. . 18 



100 Sword and Scimitar . . . 
The Vision of Sir Laun- 

100 fal 

100 The Contented Man 

100 Herve Riel 

100 Skeleton in Armor .... 

Passing of Ai'thur 

97 The Mystery of Life . . . 
97 A Rill from the Town 

95 Pump 

The Chambered Nautilus 
95 Cranford (Selections).. 

95 Island of the Fay 

94 Early Conquests 

93 Wealth 

93 What a Good History 

92 Should Contain 

Character of Columbus 
91 Character of Wa^hing- 

91 ton 

88 Fall of the House of 

87 Usher 

86 What Constitutes a State 
83 Genius and Industry . . 



13 69 



25 


48 


13 


46 


12 


42 


11 


27 


10 


20 


26 


19 


26 


19 


11 


18 


10 


10 


19 





19 





16 





15 





15 






14 



13 





12 





12 






GENERAL RESULTS FIRST, SECOND QUESTIONNAIRES 31 
TABLE Y — Concluded 



Pet. 



Pet. 



Fre- favur- ^^' favor- 

Selections quency able Selections auency able 

Julius Caesar Z. 21 81 Moral Rights of Animals 12 

Escape of Queen Manj. 14 79 Rhocus 10 

Tales of a Grandfather . 25 72 

Grade VIII 

The Man Without a Enoch Arden 21 81 

Country 53 100 Merchant of Venice 40 80 

Julius Caesar 36 100 Herve Riel 13 77 

The Prairie Fire 22 100 Snowbound 59 76 

The Courtship of Miles The Lady of the Lake.. 38 76 

Standish 19 100 -Stories of King Arthur. 12 75 

The Heritage 15 100 The Vision of Sir 

Horatius at the Bridge. 15 100 Launfal 79 71 

Raleigh's Coat 11 100 Lady of Shalott 15 67 

Sohrah and Rustum.... 10 100 The Sketch Book 12 58 

Christmas at the The Descent into the 

Cratchits' 53 91 Maelstrom 47 53 

Building of the Ship.... 11 91 Gray's Elegy 15 53 

Evangeline 84 88 Thanatopsis 21 14 

The Great Stone Face.. 50 88 Munera Pulveris 19 5 

Paul Revere's Ride 50 87 The Renunciation 15 

The Legend of Sleepy Wisdom and Prudence.. 11 

Holloic 41 85 

grade selection The Argonauts. The request for the names 
of over-mature selections led teachers to mention many pas- 
sages a few times each, while certain passages, as Franklin's 
The Whistle, were mentioned oftener for over-maturity than 
for any other undesirable characteristic. The more specific 
qualities named by teachers are discussed in the next chapter. 
Responses to Questionnaire II 
Table VI shows the character of the data obtained in the 
responses to Questionnaire II. Lack of space forbids includ- 
ing in this table the data for all the selections judged. This 
sampling of the responses shows agreement among the teach- 
ers. In all grades, from 45 to 78 per cent of the selections are 
favored by 85 per cent or more of the teachers who judged 
them. In Grade I, 11 selections were reported upon favor- 
ably by all who judged them. 

The responses to the second questionnaire revealed evi- 
dences of a character inadequately shown in the earlier re- 



S2 UNIVERSITY OP WISCONSIN STUDIES 

sponses. In the first place, the responses verified in several 
ways those of the first questionnaire. Selections which had 
been favorably mentioned by the teachers responding to the 
first questionnaire were again reported upon favorably. For 
example, in the responses for Grade I, The Gingerbread Boy, 
The Three Little Pigs, and The Christmas Story (Aldine) 
were mentioned by 33, 17, and 10 teachers respectively in 
Questionnaire I, all of the teachers reporting favorably upon 
them. In the second questionnaire, the same selections were 
reported upon by 87, 82, and 61 teachers respectively, and again 
all reported favorably. Likewise, selections upon which dis- 
agreement was shown in Questionnaire I were disagreed upon 
by the teachers responding to Questionnaire II. The com- 
ments on The Great Stone Face illustrate this type of verifica- 
tion. There are also cases in which close agreement exists 
upon the inferiority of a selection. The poem Nuremhurg, 
for example, is in disfavor with all excepting 3 per cent and 
17 per cent respectively of the teachers who judged it in the 
first and second questionnaires. 

Furthermore, the second questionnaire cleared up many 
doubtful cases, as that of The Barefoot Boy. In the first 
questionnaire, this selection made a very exceptional gain from 
Grade III to Grade IV — from 20 per cent of the teachers fa- 
voring it in one grade to 86 per cent favoring it in the next 
(less than ten teachers judged it in either grade). In the 
second questionnaire, however, this selection was judged by 
the teachers of Grades IV to VIII inclusive and responses 
from 40 to 69 teachers per grade obtained. Here, consistent 
gains were made throughout the intermediate grades, thus con- 
firming the suspicion that the exceptional gain made in Ques- 
tionnaire I was due largely to the small number of teachers 
judging the selection. Likewise Ahou Ben Adhem showed an 
unusual gain from Grade IV to Grade V in Questionnaire I, 
but a more thorough canvass of teachers as afforded by the 
second questionnaire indicated that the teachers in the first 
gave it too high a rating. Such cases as those just cited re- 
sulted from the small numbers of teachers judging the selec- 
tions in the first questionnaire. 



GENERAL RESULTS FIRST, SECOND QUESTIONNAIRES 33 



tf 



i-H Oh) 



O fH 



H «) 



^s^a: 



8uii£iia 



Pio* IPM 



IBJ0PV[ 



Xjib^i 









8jn:;Bjsi: 



'ssanpnix 



'a.in:^n8Apv 



jouiriH 






sui9[qojd 






noicjoB 



aiqBioABj 



iSonanbai^ 



(M-<*i«ooecicicoc<ieo"3cD«50i-iTti(Mc>a 



t-Ht-H (M 



CO "3 <M <M CO 1-H CM 1 



tD(M I i-l(M(>J 



I I I I 



tH CM C>C| »-H l-H tH 



OOCD «0 1 I 1-H 



CM ICi-l 05 <Xi -^ CM 



1— (CM tH 1— I 



1— I ITfHCMOO 



I I i-H 00 T-H tH CO CM lO t-» rH CM CM 



CQ 



>5 G) «o 

•e ^ i=q 

^ ^ w 



05 



•si ^ Ir^ ^"^ 



^ o s 
s a o 



-e to 
<=■ 2 

to 50 ^ J^ 

to to '^ e 
•« t-» to a 
."S :tS .se e 

>^^EhCC2 






a fi 



^o3 
So 



o-£ 



34 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

In the third place, the second questionnaire ehcited com- 
ments upon standard selections which were seldom or never 
mentioned in the first. As examples, Paul Revere was re- 
ported upon only twice in Grade VIII in the first question- 
naire, while teachers of Grades III to VIII reported upon it 
in the second, and Horatius at the Bridge which was reported 
upon 12 and 15 times, respectively, in Grades VII and VIII 
was judged 52 and 42 times, respectively, in the second. 

Recurrences of Selections in Different Grades 

Many reading selections recur in different grades. Exam- 
ples of recurrence found in Questionnaire I are Cinderella in 
Grades I to III, Dick Whittington in Grades II to IV, The 
Barefoot Boy in III to VI, Aladdin in I to V, Horatius at the 
Bridge in IV to VIII, and different versions of The Pied Piper 
in II to VII. These cases of recurrence raise the question of 
the correct placement of reading selections which is treated 
in Chapter IX. 

This investigation has led to the collecting of experiential 
data pointing to the grades in which some selections ordinarily 
become appropriate. For example, Dick Whittington is not 
ordinarily judged as appropriate until Grade III, although the 
pupils of several succeeding grades are interested in this tale. 
Other examples occur in Table V and again in the tables of 
Chapter IX. These experiential data should be interpreted as 
showing only how early and not how late these selections may 
be used. 

Summary 

This chapter presents the judgments of teachers upon a large 
body of reading material now in general use. These teachers 
who administer this material assert that many very undesirable 
as well as many highly desirable selections have become estab- 
lished in the reading course. The data show that many selec- 
tions are used in two or more grades. 

Several problems arise out of these data and discussions: 
(1) the determination of standards for eliminating undesirable 
selections ; (2) the formulation of bases for detecting superior 



GENERAL RESULTS FIRST, SECOND QUESTIONNAIRES 35 

selections; (3) the grading of selections so as to avoid (a) 
over-maturity or under-maturity of reading material and (b) 
too extensive duplications in different grades. Attention has 
been called to teachers' agreement upon the desirability of 
flexible placement for many selections. Before these prob- 
lems can be adequately considered, a detailed study of the 
qualities of reading selections must be made. Such a study is 
undertaken in the following chapter. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE QUALITIES OF READING SELECTIONS 

The terms used by teachers to characterize reading seler 
tions are descriptive rather than analytical. In the first ques- 
tionnaire, teachers used whatever terms they happened to 
choose; in the second, they used defined terms drawn from a 
classified list. Pupils' use of terms was restricted only by the 
selections presented to them and the terms at their disposal. 
The purpose of this chapter is to show the frequency and to 
discuss the importance of the qualities of reading selections as 
indicated by the terms used by teachers and pupils. 

Undesirable Qualities 

General Discussion of Tables and Diagrams. Table VII 
shows the names and percentages of frequency of the unde- 
sirable qualities mentioned in both questionnaires. In addi- 
tion to these undesirable qualities, several others were men- 
tioned in the first questionnaire. The most important of these 
is uninteresting, which attains percentages ranging from 19 to 
46 for the eight grades. In the second questionnaire this term 
does not occur because it was subsumed under others.^ One 
per cent of the teachers of Grades V to VIII stated that their 
pupils dislike poetry. But dislike of poetry is omitted from 
the table of qualities because evidence shows clearly that the 
popular notion of this dislike is based upon pupils' dislike 
either of certain poems or of poems which are not well taught. 
One other quality, lack of content, was mentioned by 2 per 
cent of the teachers of Grades I and II. The selections thus 
described are alleged to provide merely for "word drill" ; all 
of these comments are made upon the same series of readers. 
The quality too mature occurs less frequently in the second 
questionnaire than in the first because the teachers in respond- 

*See Chapter II for directions to teachers. 



QUALITIES OF READING SELECTIONS 



3} 



ing to the second stated the reasons for over-maturity by using 
such terms as hard words, unfamiliar subject matter, abstract, 
and hard symbolism. 

TABLE VII 

The Fbequency of Each Undesirable Quality Shown in Percent- 
ages FOR THE Different Grades in the Two Questionnaires* 





Ques- 


















Qualities 


tion- 








Grades 










naire 






















t 


II 


III 


IV 


V 


VI 


VII 


VIII 


Too 1 


I 


176 


114 


190 


175 


199 


221 


116 


136 


mature | 


II 


63 


93 


138 


155 


148 


170 


140 


131 


Hard j 


I 


46 


24 


35 


29 


33 


39 


19 


16 


words \ 


II 


32 


49 


83 


99 


92 


77 


49 


38 


Unfamiliar sub-j 


I 


17 


9 


15 


13 


13 


17 


8 


8 


jeet matter.--! 


II 


15 


28 


43 


54 


57 


64 


51 


39 


Too j 


I 


6 


4 


7 


6 


6 


10 


5 


6 


long I 


II 

I 


22 
3 


21 

4 


25 
9 


24 
11 


23 
9 


24 
10 


22 
3 


17 


Abstract or hard] 


4 


symbolism — ( 


II 


23 


35 


57 


88 


88 


107 


90 


88 


Too 1 


I 


3 


2 


5 


4 


5 


4 


3 


5 


sad 1 


II 

I 


6 
3 


13 
1 


16 
2 


27 
2 


26 
3 


44 
3 


52 
2 


61 


Tired j 


1 


of it 1 


II 
I 


9 
17 


13 
11 


17 
19 


14 

18 


14 
19 


14 

20 


13 

8 


5 


No story, S 


4 


lacks action..^ 


II 


15 


12 


11 


11 


14 


21 


19 


15 


Scrappy | 


I 


6 


2 


3 


3 


3 


4 


2 


2 




II 
I 


2 
4 


2 
3 


3 

7 


3 

8 


4 
8 


6 

7 


6 
2 


6 


Too child- 1 


1 


ish 1 


II 
1 


15 
7 


18 
5 


22 
10 


17 
9 


25 
9 


44 

8 


52 
3 


47 


Un- \ 


2 


real 1 


II 
I 


16 
2 


13 
1 


17 
2 


17 
1 


18 
1 


21 
2 


17 
1 


14 


Too \ 


1 


didactic ( 


II 


3 


3 


2 


2 


2 


4 


4 


3 


Characters | 


I 


2 


1 


2 


1 


1 


2 


1 


1 


disliked ( 


II 


1 


1 


1 


2 


2 


2 


2 


3 


Monoto- 1 


\ I 


6 


3 


4 


2 


2 


2 


1 


___.- 


nous \ 


11 
I 


33 

7 


26 
6 


20 

7 


11 

6 


6 
3 


6 
2 


5 




Bad moral 1 
teaching 1 




II 


6 


4 


4 


3 


5 


5 


_____ 


_____ 


Not well 


I 


4 


5 


7 


5 


3 


3 


1 




told 


II 


2 


5 


4 


6 


3 


5 


2 









•The percentages were derived by using- the numbers of teachers 
per grade as bases and the total frequencies of the respective quali- 
ties as the divisors. 



38 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

Table VIII shows the relative frequencies of the terms by 
which both pupils and teachers characterize unsatisfactory se- 
lections. In this table, three terms of Table VII are omitted. 
These terms, bad moral teaching, characters disliked, and too 
didactic are seldom used and never more than twice in the com- 
ments on a given selection even in Questionnaire II. Some 
of the qualities included in Table VII are not common in the 
first questionnaire, but recur frequently when suggested to 
teachers in the second. For example, 16 teachers report that 
The Wreck of the Hesperus is too sad in Grade III ; relatively 
large numbers reported similarly on The Prisoner of Chillon, 
The Fall of the House of Usher, and Thanatopsis in the later 
grades. The recurrence of the use of the term too sad in com- 
ments upon a few selections is in contrast with the sporadic 
occurrence of the terms which have been omitted from Table 
VIII. The terms not well told and scrappy are included here 
because the style of certain selections in certain series of read- 
ers seems to limit the success of these selections. Diagrams 
I and II show in graphic form the data of Table VIII. 

Table IX shows the relative frequencies of terms used in 
characterizing the most unsatisfactory selections. The data 
here shown from the second questionnaire refer to the analyses 
of the selections which the pupils say "they dislike most." 

Detailed Discussion of Each of the Undesirable Qualities. 
Too mature; abstract; hard zvords. The diagrams emphasize 
the prevalence of the quality too mature, and show conclusive- 
ly that teachers regard much reading material as over-mature 
for their classes. Detailed analyses are made in the next 
chapter of such selections. 

Unfamiliar subject matter. Closely related to over-matur- 
ity of selections is the pupils' unfamiliarity with subject mat- 
ter. The tables show that the term unfamiliar subject matter 
is frequently used by teachers of all grades. Teachers make 
this criticism of Paul Revere' s Ride for Grade IV ; here, one 
may well excuse them from the labor of adding sufficient con- 
tent to prepare their pupils for this selection, because it is in 
advance of the work in United States history and is written 
in a style suitable for older pupils. Analogous comments 



QUALITIES OF READING SELECTIONS 



39 



TABLE VIII 



The Relative Frequencies of the Most Important Undesirable 
Qualities in the Teachers' Responses to Questionnaires I and II* 



Qualities 


Ques- 
tion- 
naire 


Grades 






I 


II 


III 


IV 


V 


VI 


VII 


VIII 


Too ( 
mature \ 




60 
25 


60 
28 


61 
30 


62 
30 


65 
28 


65 

28 


66 
28 


73 
26 


Hard ) 
words ( 




15 
13 


13 
15 


11 
18 


10 
19 


10 
18 


11 
13 


11 
10 


9 
8 


Unfamiliar sub-\ 
jeet matter.-/ 




6 
6 


5 
9 


5 
10 


4 
10 


4 
11 


4 
11 


4 
10 


4 
9 


Abstract or hard ^ 
symbolism ] 




1 
9 


2 

10 


3 
12 


4 
16 


3 
17 


3 

18 


2 
17 


2 
19 


No story, j 
lacks action--/ 




5 
6 


6 

4 


6 
2 


6 
2 


6 
3 


5 
3 


5 
3 


2 
3 


Un- j 
real / 




2 
6 
2 
9 


3 
4 
2 
fi 


3 
4 
2 
5 


3 
3 
2 
5 


3 
3 
2 
4 


2 
3 
3 

4 


2 
3 
3 

4 


1 
8 


Too \ 
long 1 


3 
4 


Scrappy j 




2 

1 
1 
3 


1 

1 
1 
4 


1 

1 
2 
3 


1 

1 

1 
5 


1 

1 
1 
5 


^ 


1 

1 

2 

10 


1 
1 


Too j 
sad I 


3 
13 


Too child- 5 
ish X 




2 


2 
fi 


2 

5 


3 
3 


2 
5 




1 

in 


1 
10 


Tired J 
of it I 




1 

3 

2 

13 

1 

1 


1 

4 
2 
8 
2 
1 


1 
4 
1 
5 
2 
1 


1 
3 
1 

2 
2 

1 


1 
3 
1 
1 

1 
1 




1 

2 
1 

1 
1 
1 


1 
1 


Monoto- I 
nous ( 


-- 


Not well ( 
told 1 





♦The relative frequencies were derived by using the sums of the 
frequencies of these qualities for each of the grades as divisors and 
the frequencies of the respective qualities as bases. 



40 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



TABLE IX 

The Relative Fbequencies of Undesirable Qualities in Judgments 
Upon the Most Undesirable Selections. Based Upon the Judg- 
ments OF the Teachers Who Responded to Both Questionnaires* 



Qualities 


Ques- 
tion- 
naire 




Grades 

1 










I 


n 


III 


IV 


V 


VI 


VII 


VIII 


Too S 
mature } 


I 
II 


42 
13 


48 
15 


74 
16 


56 
12 


58 
9 


78 
5 


65 
7 


72 
9 


Hard S 
words ] 


I 

II 


30 
14 


15 
15 


4 
17 


21 

18 


19 
19 


14 
19 


16 
15 


5 
13 


Unfamiliar sub-1 
.iect matter__t 


I 
II 


4 
12 


7 
12 


3 
12 


7 
13 


6 
13 


"ii" 


8 
13 


""ii" 


Abstract or hardy 
symbolism .__{ 


I 

II 








3 
13 


3 
19 


"li" 


2 
24 


2 


5 


6 


9 


26 


No story, J 
lacks action.-l 


I 
II 


9 

8 


15 

8 


10 
8 


6 
9 


12 
9 


7 
11 


5 
10 


12 
11 


Un- ( 
real ( 


I 
II 


4 

7 


1 
7 


3 

8 


5 
9 


1 

10 


_____ 


1 

6 


6 
4 


Too y 
long 1 


I 
II 


1 
14 


2 
12 


_____ 


1 

7 








1 


5 


4 


4 


4 


Scrappy C 


I 
II 


2 
3 


3 
2 








1 
1 


...-_ 




1 


1 


1 


1 


Too ( 
sad \ 


I 
II 


4 


1 

5 


_____ 


1 
5 






3 
11 


1 


6 


9 


12 


Too child- f 
ish ( 


I 
II 


1 
1 


.__-_ 


1 

3 












3 


2 


2 


2 


2 


Tired J 
of it \ 


I 
II 


4 
3 
















4 


4 


3 


3 


2 


1 




Monoto- 5 
nous I 


I 
II 


1 
10 


3 

7 






1 
3 








5 


4 


3 


3 


3 


Not well 1 
told ) 


I 
II 


2 
6 


5 
6 


5 
4 






1 
1 






3 


1 


2 


1 



•The relative frequencies were derived as in Table VII. 

could be made with reference to using either The Prisoner of 
Chillon or Marmion and Douglas in the intermediate grades. 
Too childish. At the other extreme, a few selections are 
regarded as too childish. Such selections vary in number from 
grade to grade, but there are about as many for Grade I as 
for Grade VIII. The most common cause for the criticism 
is the dupHcation of the content of readers used in different 
grades. Some selections are doubly unfortunate in this re- 
spect. Of those on which data have been collected, The Pied 
Piper and Hiawatha are noteworthy. These selections not 



QUALITIES OF READING SELECTIONS 



41 



Qualities 
Too m&ture 



Unf ami liar subject inat» 
t«rf abstract, and hard 
Symbolism. 



No story, laclcs action, 
unreal) too long, too 
a ad, Scrappy, too child- 
ish, tired of it,mono- 
tonous,not xell told. 



Diagram I. The relative frequencies of the most important desir- 
able qualities in Questionnaire I. Based on Table VII. Combinations 
are here made in order to emphasize the frequency of the use of 
terms denoting over-maturity of subject matter. 



Qualities 
Too mature 



Unfamiliar subject mat- 
ter, abstract, and hard 
symbolism 



Ko story, lacKs action, 
unreal, too lon3,too 
sad, scrappy, too child- 
ish, tired of It mono- 
tonous, not well told 

Diagram II. The relative frequencies of the most important un- 
desirable qualities in Questionnaire II. Based on Table VII. Com- 
binations are made as in Diagram I. 



42 UNIVERSITY OP WISCONSIN STUDIES 

only appear in many readers but are rendered in various forms 
so that when the poems are finally used many pupils either 
regard them as too childish or are already tired of them. 

No story. The terms no story and lacks action are elicited 
from both teachers and pupils in the case of such selections 
as Gray's Elegy, The Chambered Nautilus, and Abou Ben 
Adhem. Pupils' additional comments on Abou Ben Adhem 
include the following (Grades VII and VIII, School A) : "too 
serious", "dry", "not much adventure and exciting things." 
Similar comments occur in pupils' statements about The Cham- 
bered Nautilus: "I can see no scheme or story in this although 
the descriptions are beautiful", and "dislike because not ad- 
venturous." 

Monotonous. The term monotonous is dependent upon the 
same literary form that gives rise to the term interesting repe- 
tition, namely, the cumulative arrangements used to ensure drill 
during the early grades. Some selections, as The Three Bears, 
possess content of sufficient interest to avoid this adverse criti- 
cism and are, therefore, commended for their interesting repe- 
tition. Other selections, as The Endless Tale, have enough 
interesting content to avoid adverse comments from only a 
part of the teachers. There seem, consequently, to be two 
ways of avoiding monotony and at the same time securing drill 
during these grades : ( 1 ) the avoidance of repetition unless 
the subject matter is of great interest, and (2) the use of de- 
vices employed to make drill periods interesting — games, for 
example, in which flash cards are used for drilling on difficult 
or new words. The relative frequency of the term monotonous 
decreases from grade to grade, thus paralleling the course of 
interesting repetition, as shown in Table XII. 

Unreal. The term unreal was used by many teachers, but 
was not often applied to any one selection. No selection of 
the list for Grade I was so described by more than one teacher 
in the second questionnaire. Two selections. Baron Miin- 
chausen and The Fall of the House of Usher were so regarded 
by a much higher percentage of the teachers of the later 
grades. We find, however, that only about 20 per cent of the 
pupils regard the Munchausen tales as too unreal while a much 



QUALITIES OP READING SELECTIONS 43 

higher percentage find them interesting just because they are 
"nonsensical", "untrue", or "impossible." 

Too sad. Certain selections, as Thanatopsis and Gray's 
Elegy, are responsible for the greater part of the use of the 
term too sad. Some additional selections, unless very care- 
fully presented, also leave an undesirable impression of sad- 
ness with pupils. The comments of older pupils indicate, how- 
ever, that the poem entitled The Wreck of the Hesperus is a 
favorite because it does arouse a feeling of sadness. Here 
also the teacher may control the appeal and turn an undesir- 
able effect into a desirable one by emphasizing one aspect of 
the poem rather than another. 

Not well told. Literary form affects the success of scores 
of selections, some of which will be analyzed in later chap- 
ters. The comparison of teachers' reactions to different ver- 
sions of the same stories is, however, inconclusive on this 
point because selections having sufficient merit to gain a place 
in more than one series of readers are usually interesting 
enough to counteract a poor rendering. There are, neverthe- 
less, a few selections which are favorites only with teachers 
using certain versions. For example, in Questionnaire I, The 
Gingerbread Boy is mentioned from one to sixteen times, re- 
spectively, by teachers reporting upon the versions found in 
six different readers. This selection is mentioned by all the 
eleven teachers reporting on the Riverside readers, but only 
once by the ten teachers using another series. An additional 
example, the selection entitled The Clever Jackal, is discussed 
in the next chapter. Two matters probably control this select- 
ive process: (1) the attractiveness of the version and (2) the 
relative attractiveness of other selections in the same reader. 

The comments regarding the teachers' responsibility for the 
success of reading matter are made because of the writer's 
firm belief that although method and content are separable as- 
pects of the problem of teaching reading, they are often re- 
solved into a single complex aspect. It is suggested that, if 
superior teaching were exhibited, many of the undesirable 
qualities would diminish materially. 



44 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



TABLE X 

The Frequency of Each Desibable Quality Shown in Percentages 
FOB the Two Questionnaires* 



Group I. (Qualities which make a selection intrinsically interesting) 





Ques- 


















Qualities 


tion- 








Grades 










naire 






















I 


II 


III 


IV 


V 


VI 


VII 


VIII 


Interesting ( 


I 


23 


20 


17 


17 


20 


20 


22 


23 


action / 


II 


270 


271 


237 


197 


180 


215 


228 


238 


Interesting ) 


I 


7 


11 


22 


29 


34 


26 


20 


13 


characters 7 


II 


33 


48 


66 


83 


83 


96 


113 


140 


Interesting | 


I 


17 


15 


14 


13 


15 


16 


18 


17 


problems ) 


II 


45 


58 


64 ' 


65 


64 


72 


81 


90 


Interesting \ 


T 


12 


18 


29 


33 


33 


34 


33 


30 


information—l 


II 


19 


35 


37 


31 


40 


54 


70 


71 


Interesting ) 


I 


10 


6 


3 












repetition j 


II 


346 


238 


113 


"29' 


"ir 


"12" 


""12" 


__._- 


Humor \ 


I 


16 


25 


30 


26 


30 


34 


32 


20 


1 


II 
I 


163 
3 


174 

2 


163 

1 


166 
3 


179 
5 


182 
5 


222 
4 


206 


Home 3 


4 


life I 


II 


41 


30 


28 


25 


44 


58 


78 


84 


Child 5 


I 


12 


11 


14 


13 


13 


8 


5 


2 


life I 


II 


90 


94 


120 


141 


135 


94 


55 


44 


Character 


I 




2 


3 


4 


5 


9 


13 


16 


study " 


II 


"42" 


68 


111 


134 


163 


188 


218 


233 


Dramatic 


I 


16 


19 


26 


30 


36 


32 


27 


17 


action 


; II 


225 


230 


226 


195 


181 


188 


222 


240 


Heroism 


I 


2 


5 


9 


12 


14 


14 


12 


10 


' 


II 
I 


10 


81 
1 


164 
1 


217 
2 


223 
2 


216 
3 


227 
4 


216 


Romance 


4 




II 
I 


1 


16 

4 


15 
5 


21 
6 


37 
4 


63 

7 


85 
8 


100 


Knight-" 


9 


hood 


II 
I 






50 
24 


45 

24 


50 
23 


53 
17 


63 
13 


64 


Kind- 


-__._ 


"16' 


7 


ness 


II 
I 


185 
25 


215 
20 


254 
13 


238 
9 


227 

7 


173 
5 


172 
4 


154 


Nature 


2 




II 
I 


192 
29 


1-17 

26 


110 
22 


83 
15 


121 
13 


134 

8 


168 
6 


170 




Dramati- 


4 


zation 


II 


246 


198 


144 


88 


74 


65 


66 


70 


"Pprsjnnifipn- 


I 


3 


3 


3 


1 


1 








tion 


II 


188 


122 


87 


40 


33 


"28" 


"28" 


"27" 


About animals 




















or animal 


I 


23 


24 


25 


22 


19 


11 


6 


1 


play 


II 


244 


211 


183 


103 


84 


44 


42 


25 


Fairy element 




















or supernat- • 


I 


12 


18 


21 


22 


16 


12 


7 


4 


ural 


II 


228 


313 


321 


321 


319 


185 


109 


80 


Festival 


I 


24 


15 


5 


2 


3 


3 


1 


1 


element 


II 


84 


46 


27 


36 


53 


57 


54 


53 



•The percentages were derived by using: the number of teachers per 
grrade as bases and the total frequencies of the respective qualities 
as divisors. 



QUALITIES OF READING SELECTIONS 



46 



Groxjp II. (Qualities commonly mentioned along with desirable 
results of teaching). 





Ques- 














Qualities 


tion- 
naire 








Grades 










I 


II 


III 


IV 


V 


VI 


VII 


VIII 


Moral 




22 


36 


54 


55 


62 


52 


35 


28 






254 

1 


299 
2 


306 
4 


253 
5 


252 

7 


293 
6 


323 

8 


383 


Patri- 1 


8 


otism / 




23 


17 


15 


16 


29 


45 


72 


86 


Cultivates f 




13 


14 


14 


17 


17 


14 


8 


3 


imagination.-! 




130 


141 


144 


139 


131 


125 


128 


131 


Stimulates 3 




2 


2 


4 


6 


7 


7 


8 


9 


thought 1 


1 II 


50 


28 


43 


39 


66 


71 


84 


79 


Cultivates \ 




5 


4 


4 


3 


4 


3 


2 


1 


expression __J 




128 


133 


105 


72 


81 


106 


127 


129 


Enlarges 3 




3 


2 


1 


2 


2 


1 


1 




vocabulary ( 




58 


61 


64 


50 


58 


68 


73 


67 



Group III. (Qualities which are dependent upon literary merit). 



Well 

told.. 
Rhyme 



Rhythm 



Diction 

easy- 
Content 
easy- 
Variety 



Familiar sub- 
ject matter. 



1" I 


5 


8 


12 


1 II 


85 


103 


126 


I 


7 


5 


4 




124 


103 


81 


I 


4 


3 


2 


II 


226 


217 


182 


I 


3 


3 


4 


TT 


16 


18 


16 




45 


37 


30 


II 


115 


116 


115 


J 


2 


2 


1 


II 


19 


20 


21 


I 


9 


9 


8 


II 


134 


103 


73 



15 

132 

3 

74 

2 

156 

4 

17 

25 

112 

1 

14 

6 

42 



17 


15 


16 


150 


174 


207 


4 


3 


2 


81 


89 


79 


2 


1 


1 


179 


195 


231 


5 


4 


4 


26 


40 


64 


24 


19 


19 


119 


118 


123 


1 


1 


1 


17 


18 


20 


4 


2 


1 


49 


57 


69 



16 
233 



66 

1 

234 

3 

82 

14 

128 



17 



73 



Desirable Qualities 

The frequencies with which each desirable quality was men- 
tioned in the questionnaires are shown in Tables X and XL 
These qualities have been divided into three somewhat arbi- 
trarily defined groups. Group I contains qualities tending to 
make a selection intrinsically interesting to pupils ; Group II, 
qualities commonly mentioned in connection with the desirable 
results of teaching; and Group III, qualities depending chiefly 
upon the literary merits of the selections. These groups are 
discussed in consecutive order in the following pages. 

Table XI shows the relative frequencies of the qualities 



\ 



46 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



which seem to be the determinants of pupils' interests in read- 
ing selections. Although some of these qualities occur no 
oftener than other qualities, their presence in the comments on 
practically every desirable selection indicates that they and not 
other qualities determine the interest. Diction, rhyme, moral 
value, and degree of difficulty need to be considered, but both 
teachers and pupils agree that the qualities catalogued in Table 
XI govern the merit of reading matter. For example, a selec- 
tion with excellent diction may be referred to as "mere words" ; 
or, one having excellent moral teachings be "too didactic" or 
have "too obvious" a moral. If instead of looking for didactic 
qualities in a standard reading selection, one looks for the 
qualities of Group I, the moral and other important values > 

will, teachers contend, be more impressively taught than if di- i 

dactic qualities determine desirability. Another reason for 
designating certain qualities as determinants is that the selec 
tions judged to be the "best" in the respective lists in the sec- 
ond questionnaire have been found to exemplify these quali- 
ties to a marked degree, while the selections judged to be the 
"poorest" almost without exception fail to do so. In answer to 
the possible objection that the qualities here regarded as de- 
terminants merely aid in teaching or cater to the superficial 
desires of pupils, it may be said, first, that no critics of reading 
matter object to the presence of any of these qualities and, 
second, that a careful study shows that the finest examples of 
literary achievement abound with these characteristics rather 
than with merely formal qualities. The determinants refer 
then to attributes of good literature and, at the same time, to 
attributes of content by means of which didactic or other 
formal results may be most readily attained. The grouping 
of qualities imder eleven terms in Table XI conceals very 
little so far as either teachers' estimates of pupils' interests or 
the interests of teachers themselves are concerned. 

Diagram III shows graphically the data for Questionnaire 
II as shown in Table XL The high percentage of teachers 
naming each quality when judging a large and representative 
group of selections gives value to the relative frequencies of 
the qualities shown in this diagram. The diagram emphasizes 



I 



QUALITIES OF READING SELECTIONS 



47 



Qualities 

Dramatic ac- 
tion , adventure 
and heroic 

Interesting 
act ion 



Kumor 



Foiry and 
supernatural 

Interesting 
characters , 
etc. 

Interesting 
prob lews » char- 
acter study 

Kindness and 
faithfulness 



ibilmals and 
personlf icat ioiii 



Dromatizetlon 



mteresting 
repetition 

Interest Ina 
information 



Diagrram III. The relative frequencies of the mo»t Important de- 
sirable qualities in Questionnaire II. Based on Table XI. 



48 



UNIVERSITY OP WISCONSIN STUDIES 



TABLE XI 

The Relative Fbeqitencies of the Most Important Desirable Quali- 
ties Based Upon the Judgments of Teachers Who 
Responded to Both Questionnaires* 





Ques- 


















Qualities 


tion- 








Grades 










naire 


















Dramatic ac- 




I 


II 


III 


IV 


V 


VI 


VII 


VIII 


tion, adven- 




















ture, and 


I 


7 


9 


15 


20 


23 


23 


19 


19 


heroic 


II 


14 


19 


23 


27 


28 


28 


28 


28 


Interesting ac- ( 




















tion (not \ 


I 


8 


8 


9 


10 


10 


9 


11 


14 


dramatic) — 1 


II 


11 


11 


9 


9 


8 


10 


11 


12 


XT 3 


I 


10 


13 


11 


9 


9 


12 


14 


10 


Humor - 


II 


7 


6 


6 


7 


8 


10 


11 


10 


Fairy and 


I 


7 


7 


8 


7 


6 


5 


3 


2 


supernatural _ j 


II 


9 


13 


13 


14 


11 


9 


5 


5 


Interesting 




















characters. 




















home life, or 1 


I 


16 


12 


13 


13 


16 


14 


19 


13 


child life 


1 n 


7 


6 


8 


12 


14 


14 


13 


13 


Interesting 




















problems and 




















character 


I 


8 


7 


6 


6 


7 


10 


14 


20 


study 


II 


3 


5 


7 


8 


10 


11 


13 


14 


Kindness and 


I 


6 


8 


10 


9 


8 


6 


4 


4 


faithfulness __ ' 


II 


8 


9 


10 


10 


10 


8 


9 


8 


About animals, 




















animal play. 




















or personifi- 


I 


13 


14 


9 


8 


7 


4 


2 


1 


cation 


II 


16 


13 


10 


6 


5 


3 


3 


3 


Dramatization, 




















availability 


I 


13 


10 


7 


6 


5 


3 


2 


2 


for 


II 


10 


8 


7 


4 


3 


3 


3 


3 


Interesting 


I 
II 


5 
14 


3 
9 


1 
5 












repetition ' 


__ 


-- 


_____ 


_____ 


_____ 


Interesting 


I 


7 


9 


11 


12 


9 


14 


12 


15 


information _' 


II 


1 


1 


2 


2 


2 


3 


3 


3 



•The relative frequencies were derived as in Tables VIII and IX. 

the desirability of providing selections portraying action of a 
dramatic or othervi^ise interesting character. 

Qualities Which Make Reading Selections Intrin- 
sically Interesting 

Interesting Repetition; Interesting Problems. Diagram 
IV shows the shifting of interest from grade to grade. Inter- 
esting repetition, for example, passes from the third place in 



QUALITIES OP READING SELECTIONS « 

Grade I to the fifth in Grade II ; thence nearly to the last place 
where it remains. In contrast with this is the course of inter- 
esting problems, which moves from next to the last place in 
the list to the second position in Grade VIII. While cumula- 
tive tales with their interesting repetition are used only in the 
early grades, the subject matter of all grades admits of raising 
problems, as, for example, questions dealing with character 
study. The data show, therefore, that at present the relative 
importance of these and other qualities varies from grade to 
grade. The extent to which this variation is due to the char- 
acter of the subject matter now used or to the possibility of 
arousing the child's interests in any other subject matter is 
not shown. Diagram V shows in another way the frequency 
changes of important qualities which vary from grade to grade. 

Interesting Action. Interesting action is the best guaran- 
tee of success for a selection. A passage may be as success- 
ful with simple non-dramatic action as with action of a dra- 
matic or adventurous character. Among the most successful 
selections, however, are many which exemplify both types of 
action, as The Pied Piper and Dick Whittington. The fre- 
quency of terms which can be subsumed under interesting ac- 
tion shows that if a selection is not to be greatly enlivened by 
the teacher, it must possess qualities of action. Furthermore, 
this quality is often accompanied by other desirable qualities 
such as interesting characters, home life, and child life, as w 
Cosette, Dick Whittington, and How Cedric Became a Knight. 
The success of these passages attests the desirability of such 
combinations of appeal. 

Table XII contains data upon the selections designated as 
the "best" in the responses to Questionnaire 11.^ The small 
number of these selections probably accounts for the irregu- 
larities of the table but, at any rate, there is a striking simi- 
larity to the more general results shown in Table XI. The 
importance of action throughout the grades, of interesting 
repetition and animal play in the early grades, and the increas- 
ing prominence of interesting problems, interesting characters, 

'The selections designated as the "best" are shown In Table XVII 
of Chapter VI. 



50 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 




be 




bs 


G a 




c c 


'■0 o 




S o 


Oi'^ 




cpS 














S ai 




(B « 


-M P. 




■M ft 


C OJ 




C 4) 








^1 






5 c« 






2;i 

0) o 






SB 


d 


cS) 


*-*-» 




N 








!= 




c 


d c 




rt a 


k « 




U O 


Q-;3 




Q-S 


1 


J. 


c o 




Co 


oi-? 




o^ti 








■c* . 


■o . 


C4!i 




C4I. 






fri, 


3 o,cj 

r 3 b 




■so-"* 




)— 1 


fe m P 








t— ( 




C ri m 


!> 

a 
a 


S5 

VS OB 

C d M 
■0^ 4> 


5 rtS 




S C 3 




ti 




h 









t: 




fi 






3 


K 




ffi 


tm 


bfl 






C 








?i c 




V a 


fe o 




b 














c o 




c « 


M 03 




i; oj 


4) <U 


tlOm 


t^-r 




u. '* 








*j o 




^ d 


^k 




CA 


M ft 




HH « 


Mo! 


bo 


c£ 




C « 


















S V 




!nS 






*j 


Gs: 




Cfe 


M O 




M a 


o 

















«4 - 

Eg 




^ c: 




q 








SI 




51 



QUALITIES OF READING SELECTIONS 



51 



TABLE XII 
The Relative Frequencies of the Most Important Desirable Quali- 
ties IN THE "Best" Selections in Questionnaire II* 



Qualities 



Grades 



Dramatic action, adven- 
ture, and heroic 

Interesting action 
'not dramatic) 

Humor 

Fairy element or 
supernatural 

Interesting characters, 
home life, and child life 

Interesting problems 

and character study- 
Kindness and faithful- 
ness 

About animals, animal 
play, and personifica- 
tion 

Dramatization, 
availability for 

Interesting repetition.. 

Interesting information 



I 

19 

13 

8 

3 
7 
3 
2 

16 

18 
11 



II 

22 

12 

8 

4 
9 
5 
6 

13 

12 

7 
2 



III 


IV 


V 


24 


24 


23 


12 

7 


13 
5 


13 
4 


6 


6 


7 


11 


14 


17 


9 


12 


14 


10 


13 


11 


8 


5 


3 


8 
3 


5 


5 


3 


3 


3 



V^I 


VII 


VIII 


22 


10 


18 


12 
6 


9 
9 


10 
10 


8 


7 


4 


18 


20 


22 


15 


16 


17 


7 


6 


6 


2 


1 


1 


5 
1 


6 


6 


4 


6 


6 



•The relative frequencies were derived by dividing the frequencies 
of each quality by the total frequencies of all qualities for each re- 
spective grade. 

and interesting information show that the general results may 
be depended upon as guides to the best selections. 

Animals, Animal Play, and Personification. In the early 
grades, stories of animal play are important. Such stories are 
supplanted in the intermediate grades by Black Beauty, Pa- 
trasche the Dog of Flanders, and the like. Although animal 
stories are favorites, too few of them appear in the readers 
used in the later grades to give the quality about animals great 
importance. 

Dramatization. Dramatization is important throughout 
the grades. Such selections as The Pied Piper are suitable for 
dramatization in any of the grades in which they are used. 
The Courtship of Miles Standish and The Merchant of Venice 
are often used for this purpose in the upper grades. 

Fairy Element and Supernatural. The fairy story is very 
important in Grades II to V. Tables XI and XIII indicate 



52 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

differentiations made in the use of the terms fairy and super- 
natural in the different grades. Such stories as The Shoemaker 
and the Elves and Rip Van Winkle illustrate this differentia- 
tion. The pupils' reactions show clearly that interest in fairy 
tales does not end with the passing of the intermediate grades. 
Indeed, a high percentage of grammar grade pupils profess 
enjoyment in the tale of Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp. 
The results indicate that a failure to use such tales in the later 
grades should not be attributed to a lack of interest in fairies 
or the supernatural. 

Kindness, Faithfulness, and Loyalty. Kindness and 
faithfulness are frequently used in connection with other quali- 
ties. For example, the faithfulness of Patrasche and the kind- 
ness of the stranger in Cosette enhance the interest of pupils 
in selections which are interesting even apart from the pres- 
ence of these qualities. 

Humor. Humor is an important quality throughout the 
grades. Only occassionaly does one find both teachers and 
pupils who look askance at material which exemplifies this 
quality. Such persons either fail to see anything humorous in 
such selections as The One-hoss Shay and the Adventures of 
Baron Munchausen or regard them as "silly." 

Interesting Information. The older reading selections 
containing informational material are especially unfortunate 
in all of the grades. The reason for this lack of interest in 
these selections is obvious if one bears in mind the attributes 
of popular selections. There is, however, no evidence that 
well-graded informational material is not interesting. Indeed, 
the popularity of the Community Life Leaflets is as great as 
that of any other selections upon which data have been col- 
lected. The quality interesting information has importance 
also in such selections as The Leak in the Dike: teachers sup- 
ply additional information about Holland and report that they 
succeed very well so far as interest is concerned. 

Qualities Commonly Mentioned Along With the 

Desirable Results of Teaching 
Moral; Cultivation of Imagination. Among qualities 
mentioned along with desirable results of teaching the moral 



QUALITIES OF READING SELECTIONS 



53 



500 
400 



5 300| 

z 

w 



ZOO 



III 
£ loo 



Fairy and 
•upematural 












— 


V 








/ 








\ 








' 








\ 


















\, 
















s 


s 
















*■ 



















Grades i 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 

500 I h Animals and, 

rsonlflcatlon 




Gkapes I 2 3 4- 5 6 7 S 

500 

Dramatization 

400 



(A 

!d 300 



3 zoo 

o 

u 




G R APES12~343678 
5oo 



4oo 



3oo 



Zoo 



iOO 











s 














/' 




\ 










i 








\ 








1 










V 






1 














/ 
















ai 


IdTaiturc - 
^d heroism. - 






, 


,_ 


J 


, 


.. 


A 



Gk/jpes I i 3 4- 5 6 7 8 



500 



4oo 

(0 

r 

Ul 

3£0O 
o 

ul 
«|00 



Intarestltifl _ 
protlema end 
"ch/iracter study ' 

J . . . . ^ " 














/ 
















z' 














/ 














/ 



















































Grades i 2 3 4- 5 6 7 d 

5oo I— Interesting 
repetitioa 




6KAPE5 1 i 3 4- 5 €> 7 d 



500 
4oo 



S 3oo 



-Interesting char- 
-Acters ,iioioe 11C«» 
_ftna child life 




GieApEsi 234-5 67 6 
500 




6I7APE5 1 2 5 4* ^ 6 7 a 



Diagram V. Changes in the frequencies of important desirable 
qualities from grade to grade. Questionnaire II. Based on Table X. 



54 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

quality leads in all grades, while the development of imagination 
holds either the second or the third rank. Nearly all selections 
are used for teaching morality and developing imagination. 
When these data are considered with reference to the original 
statements of pupils, it appears that there is not an over-use of 
the story with a moral, but rather that there is an attempt to 
provide material which will give desirable emotional settings 
for morality without making the moral problem too obtrusive. 
Statements supporting this deduction are found in many of the 
responses : as already stated some selections teach morality 
"without seeming to do so." Patriotism is exemplified by so 
few selections that its importance cannot be determined from 
its frequency in the tables. 

Cultivation of Expression and Stimulation of Thought. 
The recent tendency to emphasize silent reading ^ is not re- 
flected in the responses to either questionnaire. The term 
cultivation of expression refers to expressive reading and the 
term stimulation of thought to promotion of class discussion. 
The interpretation of material read is emphasized more by the 
incidental comments than by the responses tabulated under 
stimulation of thought. Later tables show that many selec- 
tions are used for the purpose of stimulating thought upon im- 
portant topics. 

Enlargement of the Vocabulary. Although the enlarge- 
ment of the vocabulary is an important result of teaching, it is 
not mentioned as a specific value of many selections. It is, 
however, frequently mentioned in connection with selections 
about which there are other comments. For example, Rip Van 
Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, which are very 
popular selections, are regarded as having great value in this 
respect. 

The Literary Qualities 
Familiar Subject Matter, Easy Content, and Easy Dic- 
tion. The overwhelming evidence that many selections are 
too difficult for the grades in which they are taught is in 
agreement with the evidence that many other selections are 



5 C. H. Judd and others: Reading; Its Nature and Development. Sup- 
plementary Educational Monographs, Vol. II, No. 4. The University of 
Chlcsago Press, 1918. 



QUALITIES OP READING SELECTIONS 



55 



X 



Is 



r" r*i f" 
Eh •? '-' 



M O 



^ s 



ajn::;Bui ooj, 



spjoAi. pjBH 



pBS OOJ, 



iisBa: 






Pio; IISM 



fBIOIVI 



ssanpufx 



8jn:^uaApv 



joranjj 



not;Buuojm 



uoi:jOB 






siuaiqojd 



s[i(Ju(i 

JO j6q.)B8Jj 



8pBJ£) 



Oi-HOO I 



so 1— I T-H to »— 1 1— ■^ 



icidin)i-(T}<oot^eooo«Deococcio 



•<*i ic lO r~- lo CO 



HP^epLH^PMEH^HflHflHpMH^&H^HPlH 



K t> > K l> !>^K > !> 



OQ 









^ 






Li. O 
Eh 



&6 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



X 



ain^'Bni oox 



spiOM pjB]J 



pBS 00 j^ 



^SBa 






Vm JPM. 



pjop^ 



ssaupui^j 



9in'^a9Apv 



jouinjj 



UOI^BHUOJUI 



UOI^B 



SJ3';DBJt3qO 



r^'^c<i(Moo 



ioo:ioO(Mtj<(mootj<co 



snia^qojd 
2ui^S9J9';uj 



sjidnd 

JO J9qDB9X 



9p'BJQ 



tJ<COtJ<0 



H pLi rH il< Ph Eh PLh H Ph H Ph H PLi H Ph El (1( 



> t >> 



> ^ > > ^ 



CO 



?>g 



<3^ 






^5 
fife 



QUALITIES OF READING SELECTIONS 57 

regarded as effective particularly because they are within the 
mental grasp of the pupils who study them. This fact shows 
at least that teachers desire material which increases interest 
instead of material which needs so much explanation that in- 
terest is lost by the time the meaning is mastered or the words 
correctly pronounced. 

Rhyme and Rhythm and Variety. Pupils' statements 
about their interests in rhyme and rhythm agree with teachers' 
statements. Variety, an incidental quality, refers to both style 
and content. 

Comparison of Teachers' and Pupils' Responses 

As shown by Table XIII, there are some distinct differences 
between the incidental qualities named by pupils and 
those named by teachers. For example, literary quali- 
ties, excepting rhyme and rhythm, are seldom mentioned by 
pupils. Well told is seldom used by pupils except in case of 
the Gettysburg Address where it means good diction ; elsewhere 
it means that the story has a good ending, as in The Ugly 
Duckling and Cosette. Close agreement is found, however, 
between pupils' and teachers' mentioning of the qualities which 
determine the merit of reading matter. Here, we find a cor- 
relation of .87. It seems justifiable to maintain that teachers' 
judgments on many other selections not judged by pupils would 
be in equally close agreement with pupils' judgments. 

The interest of teachers in the moral value of many selec- 
tions is notable. Reactions of pupils show that they do not feel 
this emphasis unduly. In many cases, the pupils' comments in- 
dicate their appreciation of fair play, penalty for wrong-doing, 
and other moral qualities or teachings. For example, they show 
marked disapproval of the magician in Aladdin and for 
Phaethon; also, they mention the moral qualities of Abou Ben 
Adhem and The Chambered Nautilus in terms unlike those 
which teachers are said to "impose" upon pupils. 

Table XIII shows also the difficulties encountered in an at- 
tempt to inculcate patriotism by such a selection as What Con- 
stitutes a State. (In the table morality and patriotism are 
combined.) The lack of a variety of appeals is one of the 



68 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

reasons advanced by pupils as a cause for their lack of interest 
in this selection. The analysis of this poem in the following 
chapter indicates, however, that over-maturity of content and 
of diction is the more fundamental difficulty. Other selections 
frequently cited for their patriotic values are The Leak in the 
Dike and Paul Revere's Ride, but both are superior owing to 
other appeals such as interesting action, adventure, and interest- 
ing characters. Pupils mention the moral and patriotic values 
of these interesting selections of tener than in the case of What 
Constitutes a State. 

Additional qualities were often mentioned by pupils. For 
example, the fairy element in Aladdin was mentioned by seven- 
ty-five pupils, and the festival element in Christmas at the 
Cratchits' sixty times. Many pupils found nothing more vital 
to say about other selections than that they are interesting be- 
cause of the great mert who wrote them. This is true of the 
Gettysburg Address in Grades VI to VIII ; here, the following 
percentages of pupils stated that they liked this passage be- 
cause of their interest in Lincoln : 14 per cent, 14 per cent, and 
Z7 per cent. This does not prove that such a selection is un- 
successful but shows that teachers should at the outset make 
use of the interest in the author and then attack the additional 
problem of teaching the main argument of the address. 

Conclusions 

In all grades, teachers and pupils mention over-maturity 
of reading material oftener than any other undesirable quality. 
This term refers to the difficulty of diction or content, un- 
familiarity with the subject matter, or to difficulty with the 
symbolism found in reading selections. 

Teachers' comments indicate that, in addition to over-ma- 
turity, a few other qualities act as determinants of undesir- 
ability in reading selections. The additional determining quali- 
ties are no story, lacks action, unreal, too long, scrappy, too 
sad, too childish, monotonous, and not well told. Also, a few 
selections are undesirable because pupils are tired of them. 

Reading courses should be so planned that either the selec- 
tions will not present considerable difficulties with the subject 



QUALITIES OF READING SELECTIONS 59 

matter or that able teachers will be given ample time for the 
presentation of necessary explanatory material. 

Teachers have difficulty with some easy selections which 
are found in many versions and sometimes in readers of sev- 
eral different grades. Pupils either tire of such selections or 
find them too immature. 

Interest in the repetition contained in cumulative folk tales 
continues throughout the primary grades ; beyond these grades, 
such tales are likely to be monotonous or too childish. 

Teachers who lack interest in humorous passages should be 
warned against the use of the Munchausen tales, The One-hoss 
Shay, and other similar selections. So far as pupils are con- 
cerned, however, such selections, if easy, will teach themselves ; 
if difficult, they require sympathetic teaching. Careful teach- 
ing is required also by selections possessing a touch of sad- 
ness ; if poorly taught, such selections leave an over-emphasis 
upon an otherwise desirable quality. 

Liteiary form is important. Some versions of certain tales 
elicit many favorable comments while other versions pass un- 
noticed. Many superior selections are popular in any of the 
versions found in different series of readers. 

Although many desirable qualities are mentioned by teachers, 
only a few of them are determinants of merit. The qualities 
such as interesting action and interesting characters ensure 
intrinsic interest in the selections which portray them. Teach- 
ers find such selections better for didactic use and for use as 
illustrations of literary merit than selections which are pri- 
marily of literary and didactic value and only secondarily of 
intrinsic interest. 

The relative percentages of the determinants of interest vary 
from grade to grade. The judgments of many teachers, after 
being found to agree closely with those of pupils, seem to form 
an adequate basis for computing the relative importance of the 
determinants of interest. Some qualities, as fairy and super- 
natural elements, persist in importance throughout the grades, 
although the character of the subject matter referred to by 
them changes considerably. 



CHAPTER V 

THE ELIMINATION OF UNDESIRABLE READING 
SELECTIONS 

Schoolmen have long realized the fact that in reading 
classes much time and effort are wasted as a result of poorly 
selected subject matter. The purposes of this chapter are to 
present evidence drawn from teachers' and pupils' reactions 
to unsatisfactory selections, and, by analyzing several such 
selections, to show the reasons for their unsatisfactory charac- 
ter. Except for incidental treatment, selections unsatisfactory 
only in certain grades will not be discussed in this chapter. 

Evidences of Undesirability Shown in the Statements 
OF Teachers and Pupils 

The Most Undesirable Selections for Each Grade — Teach- 
ers' Statements. Table XIV contains a list of the ten most 
undesirable selections for each grade as found in the first 
questionnaire together with the number of times that each selec- 
tion was mentioned and the percentage of teachers reacting 
unfavorably to it. This table brings out the important fact that 
a large number of teachers are unanimous in their disapproval 
of forty-five selections contained in the readers they most fre- 
quently used in 1915, and that many additional selections are 
unsatisfactory to nearly all the teachers who mentioned them. 

The undesirable qualities of these selections are mainly the 
following: too mature, hard words, unfamiliar subject mat- 
ter, and no story or lacks action. All excepting two are said 
to be too mature. The frequencies of terms referring to over- 
maturity are greater than the sum of the frequencies of all 
other terms. These qualities recur in the comments on nearly 
every selection, while such terms as too sad or monotonous 
occur in the comments on only a few selections. Many of 
these selections appear in one or more of the most widely used 



ELIMINATION OF UNDESIRABLE READING SELECTIONS 61 

TABLE XIV 

The Ten Most Undesirable Selections for Each Grade, the Number 
OF Teachers Mentioning Them and the Percentage Unfavorable* 



Grade I 



Pet. 
un- 

No. of favor- 
Selections teachers able 

Rose, Daisy, and Lily. . 15 100 
.... 8 100 



Selections 



Pet 

un- 

No. of faTor- 

teachers able 



Breakfast Time 

Whichever Way the 
Wind doth Blow. . . 

The StioivMrds 

King Alfred and the 



100 
100 



The Little Fairy 9 

The Bagpipe 9 

Th6 House that Jack 

Built 8 

The White Lily 17 

The Clever Jackal 11 



Cakes 7 100 



Grade II 



An Evening at Home. . . 36 

My Nephew Philip 19 

Blanche and her Aunt.. 16 

Phaethon 6 

Discontent 28 

The Little Brook 33 



100 
100 
100 
100 
96 
94 



The Leaf's Journey 29 

Ulysses and the Bag 

of Winds 14 

Ana the Sun Fairy 10 

Sweet and Low 10 



Grade III 



The Maple 

The Crow 

The Crab and the Moon . 
The Cricket on the 

Hearth , 

Climbing up the Hill... 



22 
16 
15 

12 
11 



100 
100 
100 

100 
100 



Climate 9 

The Flying Trunk 40 

The Mad Tea Party 21 

The Wind and the Moon 20 
The Czar and the Angel. 34 



Grade IV 



The Factory Boy.. 

Duty 

Language 

The Argonauts 

The Whistle 

Baro7i Milnchaiisen. 



The Blessings of Poverty 20 100 

Lying 15 100 

Sleep 13 100 

The Whistle 12 100 

Glimpses of the Great 

Comrnoner 19 100 



89 
89 

89 
88 
73 



89 

93 
90 
90 



100 
97 
95 
95 



22 100 Little Nell 20 95 

16 100 The Last Lesson in 

15 100 French 18 95 

48 96 Boyhood in the South .. . 36 94 

25 96 The Declaration of 

37 95 Independence 21 86 

Grade V 

Industry 27 100 The Fairyland of Science 9 100 



Nuremburg 31 97 

Titania and Oberon 44 96 

Capturing the Wild 

Horse 25 96 



•Based on Questionnaire I. 



62 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

Grade VI 

Pet Pet. 

un- un- 

No. of favor- No. of favor- 

Selections. teachers able SelectionB. teachers able 

Good Books 12 100 T?ie Death of Socrates. . 11 90 

Bobolink 10 100 The Fairyland of 

Something about Books. 10 100 Science 10 90 

Education 9 100 Elegy (Gray) 9 89 

The Highest Aristocracy IZ 92 Cranford (Selections).. 9 89 
The Contest between the 

Man and the Cannon. 11 91 

Grade VII 

Early Conquests 19 100 The Fall of the House 

The Isle of the Fay 19 100 of Usher 13 100 

Wealth 16 100 What Constitutes a 

What a Good History State 12 100 

Should Contain 15 100 Oeyiius and Industry..-. 12 100 

The Character of The Moral Rights of 

Columbus 15 100 Animals 12 100 

The Character of 

Washington 14 100 

Grade VIII 

The Renunciation of Poor Richard's Almanac 7 100 

Wisdom 15 100 Munera Pulveris 19 95 

Wisdom and Prudence. . 11 100 Thanatopsis 21 86 

Immutable Justice 9 100 Elegy (Gray) 18 47 

To a Skylark 9 100 The Descent into the 

L' Allegro 8 100 Maelstrom 47 47 

newer readers. Of the eighty selections listed in Table XIV, 
seventeen are found in one series of readers, while four other 
series contain ten each. Teachers, in naming these eighty 
selections, referred to the versions found in fifteen different 
readers, six of which have been published since 1910, Prob- 
ably there are unfortunate selections in all series of readers; if 
this be true, teachers should be asked to omit such selections 
unless special effort is to be made to make the selections suc- 
cessful. 

Some of the selections in Table XIV were included in the 
lists of selections submitted in Questionnaire II. The percent- 
ages of unfavorable judgments then obtained are shown in 
Table XV. Table VIII shows the percentages of times that 
each undesirable quality was mentioned for these undesirable 
selections. 



ELIMINATION OF UNDESIRABLE READING SELECTIONS 63 

Two conclusions may be drawn at this point. First, selections 
which are not as satisfactory in one grade as in another can be 
better taught by placing them in the grades where there is less 
initial resistance by the pupils. Second, the experience of 
teachers indicates that such selections as Gray's Elegy, The 
Fall of the House of Usher, Nuremhurg, and The Czar and 
the Angel have no place in the elementary school reading 
course. 

Pupils' Statements. Table XVI shows both teachers' 
and pupils' reactions to selections which are often judged ad- 
versely. In addition to the selections listed in the earlier tables 
of this chapter, three others not usually favored by teachers 
are here included. The version of Baron Munchausen read by 
the pupils was different from that which the teachers judged ; 
this fact may account for its better showing with pupils\ In 
general, however, pupils' judgments support those of teachers; 
both agree that these passages are undesirable for the grades 
in which they are used if not for any of the elementary school 
grades. 

TABLE XV 
The Percentages of Teachers in the Second Questionnaire Who 

Judged Unfavorably the Selections Which Had Been Un- 
favorablt Judged in the First Questionnaire* 

Number of 

Selections Teachers Percent 

Grade Judging Unfavorable 

The House That Jack Built* I 52 21 

A Clever Jackal* I 41 20 

Phaethon* II 42 21 

Sweet and Low II 66 14 

The Cricket on the Hearth* III 29 45 

Czar and Angel* Ill 24 37 

The Flying Trunk* Ill 31 23 

Phaethon* Ill 42 14 

Cricket on the Hearth IV 32 59 

Baron Munchausen* IV 24 46 

Last Lesson in French* IV 31 42 

The Argonauts* IV 34 38 

Phaethon* IV 35 3 

Nuremburg V 23 83 

* The version of the Munchaugen tales presented to pupils is closely 
similar to that contained in the Merrill readers. 



64 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



TABLE XV— Continued. 

Number of 

Teachers Per Cent 

Grade Judging Unfavorable 

The Blessings of Poverty* V 14 57 

Titania and O'beron* V 23 48 

Baron Munchausen V 33 30 

Phaethon V 36 3 

Gray's Elegy* VI 40 82 

The Cricket on the Hearth VI 32 34 

Cranford* VI 21 33 

Baron Munchausen* VI 29 31 

Gray's Elegy* VII 43 49 

The Cricket on the Hearth* VII 22 38 

Cranford VII 23 30 

The Fall of the House of Usher* VII 23 65 

What Constitutes a State* VII 34 26 

Thanatopsis* VII 44 64 

Gray's Elegy* VIII 43 56 

The Cricket on the Hearth* . . .VIII 29 7 

House of Usher* VIII 26 54 

Thanatopsis* VIII 47 43 

U Allegro* VIII 28 64 

Descent into the Maelstrom* . . .VIII 27 7 

♦Selections marked with an asterisk were also mentioned by teachers 
of the respective grades as the most undesirable selections in the list for 
the srrades. 



ELIMINATION OF UNDESIRABLE HEADING SELECTIONS 65 



PL| I I T- 1 ■* IX> TJI S I 

I 



on Qj 



1— I 



I I O CM I I 

I 1 1—1 II 















2 ^ 
o 



^3 



fir's. ' ''-^ 

S 



I I lOO i 

I I I 1-H 



M 



1^ "^ 



I CO I t^^^ 



i-l lO lO lO 



\> 



3 

a 



oo I I I I CO 





J§ I 


1 t T-i 

1 r«D 




'—1 1 1 


1 1 1 
1 1 1 


i-H 


iP 1 1 
t^ 1 f 


1 1 1 
1 1 1 



■ '-5 s • 

e s ^ -si 

'^.'S to "^ 



-;■ :S ^ .- K . - 

o ^ P 'S to 5 

«£°toll 

-=; c ^ -< ,o 5^ 



66 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

Analysis of Undesirable Reading Selections 

In order to show more fully the reasons for the unsatisfac- 
tory character of the subject matter discussed in this chapter, 
analyses of several selections have been made. 

The Whistle. Our analysis begins v^ith a selection which 
has for several generations been found in readers and has given 
rise to one of our popular sayings. This selection, The Whistle, 
by Benjamin FrankHn, was mentioned unfavorably thirty-seven 
times in the first questionnaire for Grades IV and V and favor- 
ably only once. Excepting two fifth-grade teachers who say 
that their pupils are tired of it, all refer only to its hard words 
and over-maturity. It is contained in substantially the same 
form so far as content is concerned in books four and five of 
two widely used series of readers and in the fifth book of an- 
other series published for use in a single state. 

In looking for difficult words, one finds in a fifth-grade ver- 
sion the following expressions which might be new or trouble- 
some for many pupils : directly, voluntary, vexation, reflection, 
chagrin, ambitious, court favor, sacrificing, levees, popularity, 
political bustles, benevolent, accumulating, man of pleasure, 
audible, corporeal, sensations, appearance, equipages, and con- 
tracts debts. In the version intended for Grade IV, only a few 
of these expressions remain : directly is changed to at once; 
voluntary is omitted; reflection is changed to thought of it; 
chagrin is changed to shame; ambitious, sacrif.cing, court 
favor, levees, popularity, and political bustles are avoided by 
omitting the sentences containing them ; accumulating is chang- 
ed to heaping up. The sentence reading, "When I see a man of 
pleasure, sacrificing every laudable improvement of mind or of 
his fortune, to mere corporeal sensations," etc., is changed to 
"When I see a man neglecting the improvement of his mind, 
wasting his fortune," etc. The remainder of the difficult ex- 
pressions are avoided in the fourth-grade book by omitting two 
other sentences. 

In the use of the fifth-grade selection, approximately twenty 
expressions would need explanation to pupils of that grade. 
Assuming that a few words should be added to the pupils' vo- 



ELIMINATION OF UNDESIRABLE READING SELECTIONS 67 

cabulary, we might argue that this list is not too long. Here, 
however, we meet with another difficulty, namely, the sentence 
structure. The second sentence of the fifth-grade version reads 
as follows: "I went directly to a shop where they sold toys 
for children, and being charmed with the sound of a whistle 
that I met by the way in the hands of another boy, I voluntarily 
offered and gave all my money for one." The fourth-grade 
version divides and otherwise simplifies this sentence. This 
involved style persists throughout the fifth-grade version. 

The fifth-grade pupils are thus confronted with examples and 
applications drawn from adult life, by many difficult words, and 
many difficult sentence constructions. The closest observers of 
pupils of this grade, namely, the teachers, report that the pupils 
do not react favorably to the anecdote in this form. 

The Island of the Fay. Two selections from Poe appear 
among those which seventh-grade teachers find unsuitable for 
teaching purposes. The excerpt from The Fall of the House 
of Usher is referred to in every case in connection with one of 
the older series of readers. The Island of the Fay as found in 
one of the newer series of readers is mentioned by nineteen 
teachers, all of whom judged it adversely. The reasons for 
such judgment are as follows : lacks action, unreal, unfamil- 
iar subject matter, hard words, and over-maturity. 

An analysis of this selection shows clearly the source of some 
of the difficulties. The demands made upon the imagination 
are not beyond the powers of many pupils of this age, but, as 
commonly taught in this grade, they are beyond the reach of 
most of the pupils. That is to say, such a selection as this re- 
quires a careful assignment — such an assignment as it is not 
always possible to arrange, or else a well-conducted "study 
lesson." The pupil who, without such preparation, begins read- 
ing this passage is supposed to pass suddenly from his school 
world into a very unreal situation. Only those pupils who can 
readily follow a writer upon one of his "lonely journeyings 
amid a far distant region of mountain locked within mountain, 
and sad rivers and melancholy tarns writhing or sleeping with- 
in all" — only such pupils are able to place themselves in the 
attitude needed for the appreciation of the story. The brief 



68 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

introduction to the scene straightway described contains several 
phrases which are of sHght if any significance to one who can- 
not readily imagine the appearance of hidden mountains, sad 
rivers, and writhing tarns. These references constitute for 
most pupils unfamiliar subject matter and need more than mere 
explanatory treatment. Such explanatory treatment is prob- 
ably necessary, but it needs to be supplemented or preceded by 
an emotional preparation. This emotional preparation would 
place the pupils in possession of an attitude which many of 
them may at some time in their lives have assumed while con- 
templating a situation which was in certain of its aspects simi- 
lar to Poe's imaginary islet. The possibility of such a prepara- 
tion is, it seems, a measure of the probable success of this se- 
lection with the average class. The probability of such a treat- 
ment by the teacher in a given school can be judged by the 
superintendent or the principal. Several things may prevent 
teachers from giving such a preparation : lack of personal 
interest in the passage, lack of time for their own prepara- 
tion or for presentation, or lack of ability to inspire interest 
in such a situation. Also, the suggestions given in manuals 
for the teaching of such passages as this do not usually lead 
one to think of anything except the explanation of meanmgs. 
At this point we approach the problem of method, which is 
not the problem of our investigation. 

Capturing the Wild Horse. The lack of movement might 
be suggested as another fault of the selection just analyzed. 
That the presence of movement does not, howevef, ensure 
interest is shown by an analysis of the fifth-grade selection en- 
titled Capturing the Wild Horse^. Instead, the fault through- 
out this passage seems to be that it deals with a type of imagi- 
nation to which a careful preparatory appeal must be made if 
the selection is to be successful. This selection contains 
"action," is well told, and tells about a hunting expedition 
involving large game. It is, notwithstanding these good 
qualities, judged as a poor teaching selection by ninety-six per 
cent of the teachers who mention it. The reasons assigned 
for such judgments are two : hard words and over-maturity. 



' From Washington Irving's A Tour on the Prairies. 



ELIMINATION OF UNDESIRABLE READING SELECTIONS 69 

All the references to the tale are to the version contained in 
one of the newer readers. 

In criticizing this selection, we may analyze it and also com- 
pare it with successful ones. In the reader containing the 
selection, there is, immediately following it, a well-selected list 
of twenty-seven words for the study of pronunciation and of 
thirty-eight words and phrases for the study of meanings. The 
tale is approximately four pages in length. There is, there- 
fore, according to the editor's judgment, an average of about 
twenty difficult words or phrases per page. There are thirty- 
five lines per page. One questions whether pupils should be 
asked to read material which averages more than one major 
difficulty per sentence as this does. The question is the more 
troublesome when one notes that the selection contains no 
"childish" material which would prevent its use being post- 
poned. The words and phrases listed for special study vary in 
difficulty, but there are many which would tax severely an 
eighth-grade pupil. 

The adventure here reported is one in which only adults par- 
ticipate. No references are made to children. The adventure is 
not one about which fifth-grade pupils are likely to have 
clear notions. Many children have, however, contemplated 
a solitary existence in the midst of many natural and artifi- 
cial goods such as surrounded Robinson Crusoe when he was 
shipwrecked on foreign seas. Crusoe's adventures are replete 
with the things children do or about which they have had many 
discussions and thoughts. The capturing of a wild horse might 
be made equally interesting by approaching it with a consider- 
ation of so interesting a project as getting wild horses for a 
circus or for riding. The selection does not contain such refer- 
ences to a familiar background as run through the account of 
Robinson Crusoe. 

The tale of the capture of the wild horse may be compared 
with another favorite tale. Such a tale is the Story of Robin 
Hood which also appears in the reader containing the account 
of the wild horse. In spite of many difficult words or new 
words such as abbey, jousts, Justiciar, and tryst, the Story of 
Robin Hood is named as a favorite selection. Reasons given 



70 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

for the popularity of this story are that it portrays adventure 
involving the child life of Little John, knighthood, heroism, 
and kindness, and raises interesting problems such as questions 
regarding group loyalty and kindness to the weak and the 
poor. 

The Capturing of the Wild Horse is handicapped by a lack 
of such appeals. Capturing wild horses and training them to 
perform marvelous feats would give the narrative a human 
appeal. Such interests as it caters to come later in children's 
development, but even then tales of Rip or Ichabod with their 
play upon human shortcomings and superstitions are much 
more certain of a favorable hearing. Pupils care very little 
about the outcome of the wild horse hunt; a selection which 
does not compel the reader to finish it must always take its 
chances with school pupils as it has to with the general read- 
ing public. A few persons will finish fine literary selections 
partially for the literary merit; teachers' judgments indicate, 
however, that school pupils will not appreciate literature better 
as a result of having read passages in which attention flags as it 
does in this selection. 

What Constitutes a State. The poem entitled What Con- 
stitutes a State has been unfavorably received by teachers. The 
criticisms indicate that the selection is too mature, too didac- 
tic, and that it contains symbolism and zvords which are too 
difficult. Pupils made similar criticisms and also showed by 
their answers to questions that the passage is too difficult for 
them. Reasons for the difficulties mentioned are found in 
nearly every line of the poem. Such phrases as labored mound, 
moated gate, turrets crowned, broad armed ports, laughing 
at the storm, spangled courts, and perfume to pride occur in 
lines two to eight at the rate of two per line. These examples 
of difficult words and difficult symbolism show that a great 
deal of explanation is needed to enable pupils to understand 
merely the opening lines. The following questions were asked 
of the pupils in order to test their comprehension of such 
phrases as those just quoted: 

How do rich navies laugh "at the storm"? 
What Is meant by the "state's collected will"? 



ELIMINATION OF UNDESIRABLE READING SELECTIONS 71 

The first of these questions was answered correctly by the 
following percentages of pupils of Grades VI, VII, and VIII, 
respectively : 50 per cent, 48 per cent, and 54 per cent ; the 
second question, by the following percentages: 21 per cent, 
58 per cent, and 28 per cent. Avoidance of this passage is 
recommended by many teachers, while less than 50 per cent 
of the pupils of Grades VI and VII enjoy or understand it. 

Thanatopsis. Bryant's Thanatopsis is so widely used and 
is disliked by so many teachers that it deserves analysis. Over- 
maturity, abstractness, and sadness are its alleged defects. The 
well-known opening of this selection exemplifies the undesir- 
able qualities. First, the sentence order is very unusual. 
Second, there are several difficult phrases, as Nature's "various 
language," "communion," and "her visible forms." These 
phrases conceal the antecedent of "him" in the first line, and 
confuse the pupil by difficult content and style. 

The second sentence begins with the brooding thought of 
the "last bitter hour," and "sad images of stern agony," phrases 
which, in the opinion of some teachers, had better pass un- 
explained. The next sentence warns the reader that the "Earth 
that nourished thee, shall claim thy growth, to be resolved to 
earth again." These lines are also quite out of keeping with 
the things which teachers find interesting to pupils. There are, 
of course, pupils and teachers who are not averse to these dis- 
mal forebodin<::s. Unless, however, a supervisor has strong 
reasons for believing that an extraordinarily large percentage 
of his teachers belong to the group favorable to the poem, he 
should heed the warning of about 50 per cent of the teachers 
who find it unsatisfactory. 

The Fairyland of Science. An informational selection 
giving difficulty to sixth-grade teachers is The Fairyland of 
Science. An analysis of it shows a number of faults. First, 
pupils of Grade VI may secretly enjoy fairy tales, but the clear 
reference of the title to a childish type of appeal is not con- 
ducive to interest. The next unfavorable suggestion comes 
in the first sentence, where the reader is reminded of the com- 
mon impression that science is "a bundle of dry facts." The 
next sentence announces the author's attempt to prove that 



72 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

this common belief is incorrect. The really interesting mater- 
ial of this selection is further burdened with subsequent refer- 
ences to fairyland: "Tell me, why do you love fairy land? 
What is its character?" etc. This style which is believed to 
be suitable for children just because it employs references 
which fit pupils of Grades II to IV gives the impression that 
the selection is "written down" for children. If there is any- 
thing which pupils of Grade VI desire to escape, it is the sug- 
gestion that they are still children. Sixth-grade pupils' judg- 
ments show that the tale of Aladdin is very interesting to 
them, although many add that they are "pretty old for fairy 
tales." In The Fairyland of Science, however, the pupils are 
told that "wherever they wander," when old as well as when 
young, these fairies — fabrications for little folk — will follow 
them. In contrast with the lack of success of this selection is 
the success of other informational material which is written 
in a virile unpatronizing style^. 

The Crow. One of the most unsuccessful selections in 
the newer readers is an adaptation of one of John Burroughs' 
essays, and is entitled The Crozv. This nature-study selection 
is mentioned sixteen times in the responses to the first ques- 
tionnaire and each time unfavorably. Its alleged faults are 
over-maturity and lack of story or action. 

An analysis of this passage in comparison with a favorite 
for the same grade shows that the diction of the two selec- 
tions is about alike in difficulty. In the first paragraph of 
The Crow, the pupils would need a little help in understanding 
the phrase, "the air of a lord of the soil." Beyond this, few 
phrases or words require explanation to the average third- 
grade class. The selection does not deal with abstractions. 
The subject matter can be readily understood by pupils. 

The content presented about the crow's life consists of the 
following : leaving meat near a window for a crow ; the crow 
carrying the meat away ; the crow lighting on the ground and 
beginning to eat; a fellow-crow coming near; a struggle ex- 
pected but avoided; the first crow making a "gesture" and 



* See Chapter VII for an account of the success of other informational 
literature. 



ELIMINATION OF UNDESIRABLE READING SELECTIONS 73 

flying away without the meat; the second crow flying to the 
meat and starting to eat; the return of the first crow; division 
and carrying away of the meat. The second part of the selec- 
tion continues : the crow's attitude toward a trap ; trying to 
feed a crow by placing meat on the branch of a tree ; a care- 
ful investigation for three days by two crows ; a portion of 
meat eaten on the third day; the position of the meat changed 
to a fork in the tree and later to the ground; "but they grew 
more and more afraid of it" ; a dog carrying away the meat ; 
and finally the crow quitting the tree. 

Although similar attempts to feed birds are made by many 
children in winter, the selection is uninteresting. Nothing un- 
usual happens, or rather the lack of action in at least two 
places is the most unusual characteristic of this passage. The 
ending gives a particularly strong impression of a desire to 
finish the narrative : "Finally, the dog carried off the bone, 
and the crows stopped visiting the tree." Such an ending is 
in marked contrast with the closing of the successful story of 
the Knights of the Silver Shield which follows the selection 
under discussion in the reader. In this account of knights, 
the "golden star" was, at the end of the battle, "still shining," 
and the lord of the castle addressed the knights as follows: 
"Sir Roland has fought and won the hardest battle of all to- 
day." It is noteworthy that Sir Roland did not lay down his 
shield for some straggler to find, but that a definite objective 
was attained, and, with the portrayal of a feeling of victory, 
this superior selection closes. These comments and compari- 
sons indicate the reasons for the teachers' criticism of the lack 
of action in The Crow. 

The Clever Jackal. Despite children's keen interest in 
animal play, we find among the least liked selections one en- 
titled The Clever Jackal. The version always referred to in 
the responses to the first questionnaire is in one of the newest 
series of readers and has three attractive illustrations. Criti- 
cisms of the selection are as follows : over-mature, hard words, 
unfamiliar subject matter, unreal, monotonous, too long, and 
portrays bad morals. 



74 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

The length and monotony are incidental faults inherent in 
this particular selection ; favorite selections as The Three Bears 
and Three Billy Goats Gruff are no shorter and contain no less 
repetition. The difference between The Clever Jackal and the 
favorite selections is that the latter are interesting and, there- 
fore, neither too long nor monotonous. 

The story of the jackal runs as follows : A jackal lived near 
a river to which he went to find some crabs for his dinner. 
He put his paw into the water to catch a crab, "And snap ! a 
big Alligator had the paw in his mouth." From this time on 
the alligator tried to capture the clever animal, but always the 
jackal was wiser. At last, the jackal came home one day and 
found the alligator. Instead of trying to overcome his mortal 
enemy by combat the jackal piled wood in front of the door 
and burned the house and along with it the alligator. 

The alleged portrayal of bad morals consists of the deceit 
practiced on the alligator. For example, when the jackal's paw 
was caught, he laughed at the alligator for mistaking for a 
jackal's paw the reeds growing in the river : "So the Alligator 
opened his mouth and let the little jackal go." Both animals 
are involved in trickery : the one in order to capture and the 
other to avoid being captured. Without being prudish, one 
can detect underhanded diplomacy in the tale. 

The unfamiliarity of subject matter is probably due to pu- 
pils' common ignorance of river and alligator scenes. Also, 
over-maturity of content is found in the crafty plans for cap- 
turing and remaining free. Children who have difficulty with 
the general setting will encounter more difficulty when they 
try to follow these plans. 

Rose, Daisy, and Lily. The first-grade selection entitled 
Rose, Daisy, and Lily is disliked by all the teachers who men- 
tion it. Lack of action, hard words, and over-maturity are its 
faults. This three-page selection consists of (1) a description 
of Rose, Daisy, and Lily growing side by side in a beautiful 
garden and (2) a conversation about where they spent the win- 
ter excepting that Daisy, in the spring, does not know where 
she was. 



ELIMINATION OF UNDESIRABLE READING SELECTIONS 75 

Lack of action is an obvious characteristic of this selectioa 
Action might readily be introduced by an animated introduc- 
tion, by correlated nature study, or by dramatization. Hard 
words are found in several lines: Daisy, beautiful, garden, 
these, alone, flowers, around, none, bright-eyed, winter, white, 
indeed, asleep, awake, shining, brightly, felt, melting, triolet, 
blossoming, and leaves. Drill upon the following words is pro- 
vided by a word list which precedes the lesson : these, felt, melt- 
ing, would, sun, none, and indeed. The other words just cited 
occur in earlier selections in the reader or are preceded by 
words upon the same bases : blossoming is preceded by blos- 
som, around by round, etc. The context of nearly all these 
words is familiar to the pupils. The only new word which 
may not have been used is indeed. The teachers' criticism 
seems, therefore, to result from the lack of drill upon the words 
as they occur in the reader or the lack of interesting content 
which might carry pupils over otherwise difficult passages. 

The content of this selection presents objects of nature in 
a personified form : flowers are growing in company with their 
friends and have their periods of rest and of blossoming. Such 
tales are supposed to be interesting to children. If a selection 
is unsatisfactory after meeting these requirements, the difficulty 
may result from the large amount of teaching necessary for 
its success. In this respect, this selection is well prepared for 
by three preceding selections upon similar matter which ensure 
familiarity. The flowers themselves would be interesting to 
children. The conversation of the flowers is not difficult to 
follow. Lack of interesting action, hard words, and over- 
maturity of content as alleged against this selection may be 
due to a lack of enthusiasm on the part of teachers; at any 
rate, the teachers do not report success. 

An analysis of unsatisfactory selections with reference to 
the presentation of the optimal number of new words per 
page or per lesson has not been attempted in the present in- 
vestigation. Such an analysis would involve a tabulation of 
the words presented in both basal and supplementary readers 
and is obviously impossible with the kind of data at hand. A 
more important reason for avoiding such an analysis is that 



76 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

hard or new words present difficulties according to pupils' in- 
terest in the material read, and not merely in proportion to 
their number. Hard words frequently constitute only an in- 
cidental difficulty. Evidence of this fact may be seen by com- 
paring the difficulty of the words contained in the superior 
selections analyzed in the following chapter with the words 
contained in the inferior selections analyzed in the present 
chapter. 

A sufficient number of inferior selections have been dis- 
cussed in detail to illustrate the meaning of the term "unde- 
sirable reading selections." These analyses lead to the follow- 
ing conclusions regarding the material which teachers and 
pupils designate as undesirable. 

Conclusions 

Only in exceptional cases can teachers interest their pupils 
in the selections judged undesirable. 

Teachers agree with regard to the undesirability of these 
selections. 

These selections require explanation and analysis by the 
teachers, and therefore necessitate slow reading in class, make 
silent reading difficult if not impossible, and lead to verbalism 
and formalism as a result of attempts to force conceptions of 
adults upon children insufficiently prepared for them. 

In view of the great mass of valuable literature which pupils 
can understand and would probably enjoy, the use of undesir- 
able material in elementary schools cannot be defended upon 
the basis of social demands or the lack of an adequate amount 
of desirable material. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE DETECTION OF SUPERIOR READING 
SELECTIONS 

In the questionnaires and the direct investigation of pupils, 
„any evidences of the outstanding qualities of supeno read- 
fng selections appear. The purpose of this chapter ,s to for- 
mulate norms for use in detecting supenor readmg -t'er. To 
this end data from teachers and pup.ls are presented after 
which several representative superior selections are analyzed. 

EVIDENCES OF DESIRABILITY SHOWN BY STATEMENTS OF 

Teachers and Pupils 

The Most Desirable Selections for Each Grade. Atten- 
tion was called in Chapter IV to '^e variations m the re- 
quencies of qualities from grade to grade and to the qual. te 
which seem to be the determinants of superiority. The inter 
Tst of children in these qualities depends so largely J"" '^^ 
form of material read that one hesitates to say that pup. s 
of any grade will be uninterested in selections possessing these 
nualitl! For there are, as examples, anima stones and 
stot of animal play which are favorites in the lower grades. 
TZrascHe is in the intermediate and Muir's SUckeen in 
later grades. Likewise with interesting repetition, adults are 
attract d by repetition such as that found in some of Poe 
po eand'in certain famous orations. ?-'— e /uP, 
of Grade I are interested in information ^PPl-caWe to to 
activities. The discussion of qualities, therefore, leads to the 
question of availability of types of reading matter of suUabk 
difficulty The qualities whose frequencies are high through 
out the grades are interesting aetion and character adventure. 
ZL'easy content, easy Miction, and Portray^ oi tU su^ 
natural and of Uniness. faithfulness,^nd loyalty. Jhe pers^s 
tent frequencies of these qualities indicate that superior selec 



78 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

tions for any grade possess them. The large frequencies of 
easy or familiar emphasize the fact that over-maturity of read- 
ing matter is very common. 

In Table XVII are catalogued selections judged superior by 
either teachers or pupils or both. These lists show typical 
selections to which a large number of reactions have been ob- 
tained. The arbitrary standard of superiority set up before 
making this table admits only the selections favored by 90 per 
cent or more of the teachers judging them and both favored 
and comprehended by 80 per cent or more of the pupils who 
reported upon them. This standard admits practically all se- 
lections which stood high in either of the questionnaires. Some 
selections have been placed in only the grades where the high- 
est percentage of favorable judgments were obtained although 
high percentages were also obtained in other grades ; that is, 
selections were placed in the grades in which there was evi- 
dence of their being from every point of view most superior. 

A significant value of Table XVII appears when it is studied 
in connection with Table V of Chapter III. Such a comparison 
shows that wide use of many selections antedates by several 
grades the grade in which those selections are superior accord- 
ing to the standard here set up. For example, Paul Revere's 
Ride is superior in Grades VII and VIII, although it is used 
in Grade IV. Similarly, The Barefoot Boy is used in Grades 
III to VIII in spite of the fact that it does not rise to the 
standard of superiority until Grade VII. Other selections show 
similar misplacements and will be discussed in Chapter IX. 

Comparative Opinions of Teachers and Pupils. Table 
XVIII indicates close agreement between teachers and pupils. 
The percentage of teachers favoring a selection usually exceeds 
that of the pupils because the pupils passed their judgments 
before class study while teachers passed theirs afterwards. 



DETECTION OF SUPERIOR READING SELECTIONS 79 



The Gingerbread Boy 

The Three Bears 

The Three Little Pigs 

Three Billy Goats Gruff 

The Boy and the Goat 

The Little Red Hen 

Cinderella 

Little Boy Blue 

The Elves and the Shoemaker 

The Lion and the Mouse 

Henny Penny 

How Patty Gave Thanks 

The Pancake 

The Croiv and the Pitcher 

The Little Steam Engine 

The Hare and the Tortoise 

Tom and the Wind 

Johnny Cake 

Tom, Tom the Piper's Son 

The Bremen Band 

Christmas Morning 



TABLE XVII 

Superior Selections for All Grades* 

Grade I 

The Old Woman and Her Pig 

LamMkin 

Sing a Song of Sixpence 

The Clouds 

MHiat Does Little Birdie Say 

The Swing 

My Dream 

My Shadow 

The North Wind 

Our Flag 

The Star 

The Squirrels 

The Little Plant 

Playing in the Snow 

Snowbirds 

Snowflakes 

Santa Claus 

Who Is It? Santa Claus f 

The Night Before Christmas 

The Caterpillar 



Grade II 



The Bremen Band 

The Three Bears 

The Three Little Pigs 

Cinderella 

Three Billy Goats Gruff 

Little Red Riding Hood 

How Mrs. White Hen Helped 

Rose 
Lambikin 

Epaminondas and His Auntie 
The Robbers 

The Crow and the Pitcher 
Androclus and the Lion 
The Magpie's Lesson 
The Hare and the Tortoise 
Town Mouse and Field Mouse 
The Old Woman and Her 

Sixpence 
Jackal and Alligator 
Hans in Luck 



When the Little Boy Ran Away 

The Little Red Hen 

Ruff's Adventure 

Columbus 

Nathan and the Bear 

Who Became King 

Mr. and Mrs. Leghorn to the 

Rescue 
The Doll's Thanksgiving Dinner 
The Ant and the Grasshopper 
Belling the Cat 
The Golden Touch 
My Shadow 
The Swing 
Our Flag 

I Saw a Ship a-Sailing 
Who Has Seen the Wind? 
Sleeping Beauty 
Henny Penny 
Billy Binks 



80 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



Grade III 



The Tar Baby 

Robinson Crusoe 

The Leak in the Dike 

Hans the Shepherd Boy 

The Wishing Gate 

Dick Whittington and His Cat 

Aladdin and the Wonderful 

Lamp 
The Elves and the Shoemaker 
The Oolden Cups 
The 'Bell of Atri 
William Tell 
The Golden Touch 
Sleeping Beauty 
Knights of the Silver Shield 
Knights of the Silver Arrows 

Grade 

Knights of the Silver Shield 

Knights of the Silver Arrow 

How Cedric Became a Knight 

Florinda 

Black Beauty 

Dick Whittington and His Cat 

The Little Post-boy 

Maggie Visits the Gypsies 

Beowulf, the Brave Prince 

William Tell 

The Little Acadian 

Robert of Lincoln 

Roland the Noble Knight 

Out to Old Aunt Mary's 

Tillie's Christmas 



The Fairy Wand 

Washington's Boyhood 

David the Sling er 

St. George and the Dragon 

Broivnies and the Cook 

Irene the Idle 

Hans WJio Made the Princess 

Laugh 
The Three Wishes 
Pandora's Box 
Wynken, Blynken, and Nod 
The Boy, the Bees, and the 

British 
Black Beauty 
The Skylark's Spurs 
The Brownies 

IV 

Tom, Dick, and Harry 
The Wishing Gate 
Patrasche 

The Brave Boy's Adventure 
A Boy Hero 
The Magic Prison 
Snow White and Rose Red 
The First Thanksgiving 
A True Story About Leo 
The Twelve Months 
Alexander and Bucephalus 
Inchcape Rock 
The History of Tip-Top 
Aladdin and the Wonderful 
Lamp 



Robin Hood 

The Nurnberg Stove 

The King of the Golden River 

Aladdin and the Wonderful 

Lamp 
Hiawatha 

Maggie Visits the Gypsies 
A7-abian Nights (Selections) 
The Leak in the Dike 
How Cedric Became a Knight 
Robinson Crusoe 



Grade V 

Ulysses at the Cyclops 

William Tell 

Beautiful Joe 

A Brave Boy 

The Simple Old Man 

The Village Blacksmith 

Gulliver's Travels 

Tom the Chimney Sweep 

The Archery Contest 

The Sportsman 

Cosette 



DETECTION OF SUPERIOR READING SELECTIONS 81 



Gbade VI 



The King of the Golden River 

Kentucky Belle 

Hiawatha 

The Legend of Bregenz 

The Bishop and the Convict 

Sir Kenneth and the Flag 

Gulliver's Travels 

Midget, the Return Horse 

Tom and Maggie 

Rip Van Winkle 

The Courtship of Miles 

Standish 
Evangeline 
Snowiound 
The Day Is Done 
King Robert of Sicily 
The Man Without a Country 
King Arthur Stories 
The Barefoot Boy 
Paul Revere's Ride 
The Pied Piper of Hamelin 
How They Brought the Good 

News 
William Tell 



Evangeline 

Snowbound 

Paul Revere's Ride 

The Barefoot Boy 

The Man Without a Country 

Rip Tan Winkle 

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow 

The One-hoss Shay 

Christmas at the Cratchits' 

The Courtship of Miles Standish 

Birds of Killingworth 

The Heritage 

Raleigh's Coat 

Mr. Pickwick's Slide 

The Splendor Falls 

The Sandpiper 

The Daffodil 

The Revenge 



Robin Hood 
The Simple Old Man 
Birds of Killingworth 
The Arrow and the Song 
The Sandpiper 
William Tell 

The Pied Piper of Hamelin 
Horatius at the Bridge 
Christmas at the Cratchits' 
Gbade VII 

The Legend of the Moor's 

Legacy 
Horatius at the Bridge 
Christmas at the Cratchits' 
To a Waterfowl 
The Sandpiper 
The Death of Baldur 
Marmion and Douglas 
Mr. Pickwick's Slide 
Birds of Killingworth 
Before Coins Were Made 
The Minting of Coins 
Paper Money 
Money in the Home and the 

Community 
Grade VIII 

Marmion and Douglas 

Oh Captain, My Captain 

Hoio I Killed a Bear 

A-hunting of the Deer 

The Gettysburg Address 

The Prairie Fire 

Herve Riel 

The Building of the Ship 

The Great Stone Face 

Julius Caesar 

The Skeleton in Armor 

The Cricket on the Hearth 

Randolph and Douglas 

Before Coins Were Made 

The Minting of Coins 

Paper Money 

Money in the Home and the 



♦Selections mentioned favorably by less than ninety per cent of 
the teachers judging them are excluded from this table. These 
selections were judged by representative numbers of teachers in 
one or both of the questionnaires. Some of the selections in the 
lists for Grades III to VIII were also judged by pupils. 



82 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



I— I i-< 

X < 

o 

^ OB 
EH g 

Q 

«1 





3 


1 


I05 1 


1 lOC^IC^O 




(S 


I 1 05 1 1 lOOOOOOi 

II 1 1 1 1—1 




s- 


1 leo 1 1 iioooooo 




1 1 05 1 1 lOiOSOOS 




^a 


II III 1—1 




h-t 


1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 




<y 


1 1 1 1 1 1 KO 1 1 

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1—1 1 1 


3 


1 lO 1 lrt<tD!MtCi 




Ph 


1 1 o 1 1 1 ost^ 00 00 

1 1 1-H 1 1 1 




1— 1 1— 1 






h^ HH 


1 1 1—1 1 t 1 COOfM OJ 




^a 


I 1 OS 1 1 1 05005 Oi 

II 1 1 1 1—1 




1— 1 


1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 t^ 




a 


1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 o 


3 

Ph 


it^r^ 1 1 IN 1 iTt< 




IO500 1 1 I05 1 100 




,_j '— ' 








1 -^ CC 1 1 1 1^ 1 1 o 




I0505 1 1 lOi 1 I05 


w 


l-H 


1 1 1—1 1 1 1 1 1 1 t^ 


-a 


C 


1 Id 1 1 1 1 1 \ai 






t-l 


s 


Oitr^ 1 1 CO 1 1 1 ■* 


05 05 1 1 05 OS 1 1 1 OO 




1— I 


OSC^ 1 1 lOO 1 1 1 c^ 




(JiOi 1 1 1 Ci 1 1 1 CT5 




o? 


(O O 1 1 OO 1 1 1 CS 




t-H 


O' O 1 1 0105 1 1 lOO 




cy 


1—1 1-1 1 1 III 


s 


tC 1— 1 1 1— 1 O t^ 1 1 1 1 




Ph 


0505 1 05 00 OO 1 1 1 1 




>K 


o; ■>* 1 05 cot^ 1 1 1 1 




C5 C5 1 05tO 05 1 1 1 1 




^a 


o o 1 CO Ttieo 1 1 1 1 




(—1 


O O 1 050505 1 1 1 1 




a 


1—1 1—1 1 till 


J3 


t^ 1 1 05 1 CD 1 1 1 1 




Ph 


05 1 100 100 1 1 1 1 




t— 1(— 1 


O 1 1 b- 1 lO 1 1 1 1 




^M 


O 1 1 05 I05 1 1 1 1 




^a 


r-l 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 




1— c 


1 1 1 lO 1 1 1 1 




a 


1 1 1 lO 1 1 1 1 

1 1 1 1-^ 1 1—1 1 1 1 1 


oo 




*i I 




'. ' '.""i 


a 
o 


he Dike 
acksmit 
Boy.... 
tnn. 




Ride. . . 
Shay. . . 
dress . . . 
Cratehit 


OD 


^ ~ ^ &> • 


^ ■« 




H? -M a • 


.^o so Tt! -w 

^ 5~ e 




a . o :? . 




•5 <a o ** . 


t~ ° f^ 




.. Cn'S..tS . 






Leak 
Villa 
Bare 
Wh 
tte.. 

dirt. 




. .« <u 'e "2 ^. •" T* 




toww'CoSgS'a.j:'^ 




.c;.«i*;-Jio~e*;<w.ci 






E- 


E^tiC 


lOt 


a^E^Cjo 






03 

C1S.O 

C u 

0) o 
o > 

4)™ 



o o 

CO ^ 



+^ 3 

a 

c 

go 



DETECTION OF SUPERIOR READING SELECTIONS 83 

In all cases shown in Table XVIII the percentages of pupils 
and teachers responding favorably are high enough to indicate 
successful use of the selections. Three lines of evidence point, 
therefore, to the superiority of these selections: (1) those who 
administer the elementary reading course chose them as the 
representative of the best material in their readers; (2) high 
percentages of the same kind of judges also reported favorably 
upon them when asked specifically about them; and (3) pupils' 
reactions are favorable even before class study. So far then 
as interest is concerned, these materials are quite satisfactory 
to pupils as well as to teachers. 

Many of the selections of Table XVII appear in the lists of 
more than one grade. This means that they would nearly 
"teach themselves" in the grades in which they are listed. In 
case of many of these selections a different version may be 
found in each of the series of readers containing them, but in- 
terest in them indicates that they contain plots, forms of action, 
or other content which may be successfully used in any of the 
grades indicated if written in a style adapted to the child's 
control of the mechanics of reading as attained in the re- 
spective grades. This type of selection is exemplified in The 
Bremen Band, Aladdin, Tales of Robin Hood, and Robinson 
Crusoe. Occasionally, a version of one of these tales is un- 
fortunate. The clearest case of this kind is that of The Clever 
Jackal which, in one version, is one of the poorest selections 
for Grade I and, in a different version, one of the best for 
Grade II. In all cases the references to this tale are to the 
versions in two series of readers. This is the only case re- 
vealed in this investigation in which an unfortunate version 
is shown to be responsible for the unpopularity of a selection. 

Types of Superior Selections 

Prose and Poetry Not Differentiated. In discussing the 
content of selections there are no sufficient reasons for class- 
ifying prose and poetry into two types of reading matter. 
Pupils' interest in poetry is shown by their reactions to the 
poems submitted to them. The first poem reported on by them 



84 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

was Excelsior. Only a low percentage liked this poem while 
the majority stated that they did "not like poetry anyhow." 
In nearly every case, however, the pupils who said that they 
dislike it stated why they do like The Village Blacksmith, The 
Barefoot Boy, and The One-hoss Shay. The results here ob- 
tained confirm the opinions of many teachers who have found 
that the difficulty is nearly always with certain poems and not 
with poetry in general. This statement holds for both boys 
and girls so far as the results indicate. 

Distinctive Types of Superiority. In Table XIX appear 
the types of selections which stand out clearly in Table XVII. 
Although the types are fairly distinct, several different char- 
acteristics are often exemplified by the same selection. The 
manifold appeal of these selections has much to do with their 
popularity. Also, the interests of pupils in some of them in- 
dicate that they might be offered in any of several different 
grades if properly written for these grades. 

Superior Reading Selections and the Objectives of the 
Course in Reading. In our introductory chapter, several 
objectives of the course in reading were set up. These objec- 
tives may be used as bases for judging the selections now 
under discussion. Among these objectives is the ability to 
enjoy literature. As means for attaining this objective, selec- 
tions embodying qualities found to interest pupils were ad- 
vocated. A second group of objectives as set up includes 
ability in imagination, ability in expression, and the possession 
of an adequate vocabulary. These objectives are also attained, 
teachers assert, by the use of interesting selections. In Grades 
I and II, for example. The Three Bears is useful in the culti- 
vation of imagination and expression and in building up a vo- 
cabulary; the same is true in Grade VI of The King of the 
Golden River, and in Grade VIII of Evangeline. A third 
group of objectives includes literary taste. This objective re- 
sults from effective use of well-written subject matter. Statis- 
tical evidence shows that teachers regard the selections cat- 
alogued in Table XVII as examples of good literature. Fur- 
thermore, our introductory chapter contended that the attain- 
ment of the desirable objectives necessitates the use of material 



DETECTION OF SUPERIOR READING SELECTIONS 85 

TABLE XIX 

Types of Reading Selections for the Respective Grades and 
Examples of Each Type 

Types of Selections for Grades I-II 

Animal stories: The Three Little Pigs; Three Billy Ooats Oruff. 
Cumulative tales: The Little Red Hen; The Old Woman and Her Pig. 
Nursery Rhymes: Tom, Tom the Piper's Son; The Swing. 
Fairy tales: Cinderella; The Elves and the Shoemaker. 
Child life: My Shadow; Little Boy Blue. 
Humorous tales: The Ginger'bread Boy; The Bremen Band. 
Adventure: The Three Bears; Little Red Riding Hood. 
Interesting information: The Little Steam Engine; The Flag. 
Nature: What Does Little Birdie Say; The Magpie's Lesson. 
Dramatization: The Three Bears; The Bremen Band. 

Types of Selections for Grades III-VI 

Fairy tales: Pandora's Box; Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp. 
Child life: Dick Whittington and His Cat; Cosette. 
Adventure and heroic: The Leak in the Dike; Robinson Crusoe. 
Knighthood: The Knights of the Silver Shield; How Cedric Became 

a Knight. 
Animal stories: Black Beauty; Patrasche. 
Humor: The Wishing Gate; The Tar Ba'by. 
Interesting information: Washington's Boyhood. 
Nature: Daffy-down-dilly ; Hiawatha. 
Dramatization: The Pied Piper of Hamelin; Hiawatha. 
Poetry: The Village Blacksmith; The Pied Piper of Hamelin. 

Types of Selections fob Grades VII-VIII 

Adventure: Horatius at the Bridge; Fitz-James and Roderick Dhu. 

Description: The Day Is Done; Snowbound. 

Romance: Evangeline; The Courtship of Miles Standish. 

Knighthood: King Arthur Stories. 

Humor: Mr. Pickwick's Slide; The One-hoss Shay. 

Supernatural: Rip Van Winkle; The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. 

Biography and History*: Paul Revere's Ride; The Courtship of Miles 

Standish. 
Interesting information: Before Coins Were Made; Paper Money. 
Nature: Birds of Killingworth; The Sandpiper. 
Dramatization: William Tell; The Merchant of Venice. 
Child life: The Barefoot Boy. 
Poetry: Evangeline; To a Waterfowl. 



1 Travel may be mentioned in this connection ; there were, however, no 
references to selections telling of travel. 



86 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

whose content is within the mental grasp of the pupils who 
read it. These selections are, teachers assert, within the grasp 
of pupils. The selections discussed in this chapter are found, 
therefore, to be superior when judged with reference to the 
desirable objectives of the course in reading and the means 
for attaining these objectives. 

Superior reading material may, therefore, be described as 
follows : it possesses one or more — usually more — of the qual- 
ities which make selections intrinsically interesting to pupils; 
it is found by those who administer the course in reading to 
be available for attaining one or more of the desirable ob- 
jectives of the course in reading; it possesses literary merit; 
and it is within the mental grasp of the pupils who are to read 
it. 

Analyses of Superior Reading Selections 

The following analyses set forth the important qualities 
exemplified in a few superior selections. Owing to the gen- 
eral familiarity with many of these selections, there is no need 
for such detailed treatment as was given in the preceding 
chapter to undesirable selections. 

The Tar Baby. The Tar Baby is an outstanding superior 
selection for Grade III. This selection has for its setting a 
woodland scene in hot weather. Two animals, a rabbit and 
a fox, are interested in avoiding the extreme heat. "Brother" 
Fox proposes that they build a cool little house. The rabbit 
does not favor this proposal but says that a few green leaves 
are quite sufficient for him. The fox proceeds, however, to 
build a house. After the house is completed, the rabbit, in 
the absence of the fox, occupies it. The fox plans to entrap 
the rabbit by means of a wooden doll covered with tar. The 
rabbit comes along and, after an attempted argument with 
the exasperating doll, finds that he is unable to free himself 
from the sticky object which he has tried to force into a con- 
versation. The fox then comes out and places fire-wood near 
the rabbit, at the same time audibly planning for a feast. The 
fire is kindled, the tar becomes heated, the rabbit extricates 
himself and runs away. 



DETECTION OF SUPERIOR READING SELECTIONS 87 

This story avoids a fault of many morality stories by por- 
traying the administering of only a vigorous warning to the 
slothful rabbit. It holds the reader in suspense while the 
rabbit is trying to extricate himself from the toils of the silent, 
sticky wooden doll. The humor and resourcefulness of both 
the fox and rabbit are shown in their plans to entrap and to 
attain freedom, respectively. The pleasing effect of the story 
is enhanced by a satisfactory ending in which the fox's ex- 
treme plans for punishment are foiled by his own efforts while 
the rabbit is given a warning which he will remember. The 
story also offers an excellent opportunity for dramatization. 

Teachers' comments show that they value especially the 
action, which is both dramatic and otherwise interesting, the 
animal play, the humor, and the ease with which the selection 
can be understood. Other incidental values are its good end- 
ing and vocabulary. The resourcefulness of the rabbit was 
mentioned by nine teachers of Questionnaire II. 

The Three Bears. The selection entitled T/i^ Three Bears 
is too well known to require extended analysis. Its stated 
values are the animal element and personification, interesting 
action, adventure, interesting characters, ease, and availability 
for dramatization. Many teachers who responded to the ques- 
tionnaires referred to the "variety" contained in the story. 
This variety of appeal results from such qualities as the fol- 
lowing in addition to those already mentioned: interesting 
repetition, the bear's home, opportunity for dramatic reading 
and telling, the child's escapades. This selection has also a 
good ending, humor, and provides an opportunity for the play 
of imagination. Such a variety of appeals is one of the notable 
characteristics of superior selections. 

The Gingerbread Boy. Another favorite of the primary 
grades is The Gingerbread Boy. This English folk tale re- 
lates the story of making and baking a gingerbread boy, his 
subsequent adventures as he fled from the old man and 
woman, and his last words when the fox craftily captured 
him. The important qualities of the story are fairly obvious 
if one reads only this fragmentary outline. Interesting action 



88 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

and adventure are exemplified from the time the old woman 
begins to plan the gingerbread boy until his ultimate capture 
by the fox. The interesting characters are the old man and 
the woman who live in the little old house down under a hill, 
the cow, the horse, the fox, and the boy himself, all of whom 
engage in interesting conversation. The rollicking versions 
which appear in several different readers emphasize the humor 
of the situation and prepare judiciously for the "sad ending" 
of the story. Dramatization of the story is easy and involves 
interesting action as well as interesting conversation. The 
incidental teaching values of the selection are its availability 
for cultivating imagination and expression and for enlarging 
the vocabulary. 

The Knights of the Silver Shield ; How Little Cedric Be- 
came a Knight. The Knights of the Silver Shield is one of 
the most popular selections for Grades III to V. This tale 
and How Little Cedric Became a Knight call forth much 
praise of knighthood — its interesting characters, adventure, and 
portrayal in an unobtrusive way of wholesome virtues. Sev- 
eral teachers asked in their responses why they cannot have 
more tales of knighthood. Although these tales are desirable 
for Grade III, they seem to be more suitable for Grades IV 
and V. In these grades the stories can be freely elaborated, 
while in Grade III there is a danger, if the story is well rend- 
ered, of using over-difficult constructions. 

Without further examples, the criteria here set up may be 
used in locating the good qualities, as the criteria set up in 
the preceding chapter may aid in locating undesirable qualities 
in inferior selections. In this sense, these criteria form one 
of the important bases for a formulation of standards for 
evaluating reading matter. 

Conclusions 

Teachers' statements show close agreement upon the super- 
iority of many reading selections. So far as pupils judged 
the same selections, they regarded them as superior even be- 
fore they studied them in class. 



DETECTION OF SUPERIOR READING SELECTIONS 89 

Superior reading selections usually possess several appeals. 
Many also appeal to pupils of several grades. Many selec- 
tions are always superior even though rendered in different 
versions. 

Many selections designated as superior in certain grades 
are frequently studied too early in the reading course and are 
then judged undesirable. 

Poems as well as prose selections are among the passages 
which both pupils and teachers designate as superior. 

Selections having one or more strong appeals may be class- 
ified as typical of the grades in which these appeals are im- 
portant. The fact that many appeals are important in several 
successive grades accounts for the persistent superiority of 
certain selections in these grades. 

Moral qualities are not obtrusive in superior reading mat- 
ter although incidental qualities of great moral value often 
appear in superior selections. Similarly, other desirable ob- 
jectives of the reading course are to be attained by the use of 
superior selections although the superiority would result from 
their appeals to the interests of the reader apart from the 
more remote values. 

The literary merits of superior selections are very frequently 
mentioned by teachers. 

The reactions of teachers and pupils as well as our analyses 
of superior selections show that such selections are intrinsically 
interesting, that they are available for attaining desirable ob- 
jectives of the reading course, and that they possess literary 
merit. 



CHAPTER VII 

INFORMATIONAL MATERIAL FOR THE COURSE 
IN READING 

Ample evidence of the pronounced interest of teachers and 
pupils in informational material^ has been found^. This in- 
terest is in striking contrast with the lack of interest of teach- 
ers in the informational passages found in some widely used 
readers. The purposes of this chapter are as follows: (1) 
to show the appreciation with which pupils read well-graded 
informational material; (2) to show that teachers agree with 
pupils regarding the values of and interest in this material; 
(3) to show the striking contrast between teachers' reactions 
to this material and their reactions to such informational ma- 
terial as appears in their basal readers; and (4) to suggest 
guiding principles affecting the choice of informational pass- 
ages to be used in the reading course. 

Pupils^ Appreciation of the Informational Material 

Read 

In Table XX is shown the character of the responses of 
seventh and eighth-grade pupils to the selections in the Com- 
munity Life Series. As there was no observable difference be- 
tween the reactions of the pupils of the two grades, their re- 
sponses are not separated in the tables. The fact that pupils 
of both grades are almost unanimous in favoring these selec- 
tions, together with the fact that there are few differences be- 
tween their reactions to each of the four selections, indicates 
that this kind of material is suitable for these grades so far as 
pupils' interests are concerned. The wide range of population 
groups represented in the classes investigated adds further sup- 
port to this conclusion. 

* See note, p. 21, chap. II. 

2 See Chapter II. pp. 22 f. for the method of procedure followed in 
obtaining data upon this material. 



INFORMATIONAL MATERIAL FOR COURSE IN READING 91 



TABLE XX 

The Character of the Responses of Pupils to Informational 
Literature Written Especially fob Their Use 

No. of Pet. Qualities mentioned 

pupils favor- and the freQuency 

Selections judging able of each quality 

Before Coins Were 82 100 Various media of exchange. . .37 

Made History ..24 

Evolution of modern money.. 23 

Indian trade 20 

Barter 20 

Need for use of metal as me- 
dium 15 

Trading in Virginia 11 

Ants taking gold out of 

ground 6 

Well told 6 

Early use of Iron for money. 4 

Chinese making hoes 1 

Use of scalps by Indians 1 

The Minting of Coins 82 96 How money is made 48 

Stamping the coins 38 

Weighing the coins : 23 

Making over coins 20 

Getting designs 19 

History 18 

Ancient methods of computa- 
tions 17 

Well told 2 

Uninteresting 2 

Too mature 1 

Paper Money 82 99 The engraving process 36 

How paper money is made... 33 

The kind of paper used 21 

How counterfeiting is avoided. 21 
How paper money is made 

over 20 

Economy in having paper 

money 15 

Getting rid of old bills 13 

History 13 

Redeeming old bills 6 

United States the first to use 

paper money 3 

Guarding the vaults 1 

Counting the money 1 

Too mature 1 



92 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



No. of Pet. Qualities mentioned 

pupils favor- and the frequency 

Selections judging able of each quality 

Money in the Commun- 82 94 Use at home of money from 

ity and the Home taxes 26 

National and local expenses.. 24 

The process of taxation 20 

Interesting information about 

taxes 19 

The family budget 18 

Assessments 13 

War time use of money 7 

Well told 2 

Uninteresting 2 

Tired hearing of taxes 2 

Not so well told as the others. 1 

Additional evidence of the pupils' interest is found by com- 
paring their comments on these passages with their comments 
upon some of the standard selections submitted to them. The 
fullness as well as the vigor of the comments upon the informa- 
tional passages is shown in the following quotations: 

C. F. — What Constitutes a State. "Dislike. Because it is not a 
poem for a boy. Uninteresting." 

Abou Ben Adhem. "Dislike. Because it is not exciting, or sad, 
or glad, and has too much talking, not many rhyming sentences." 

Gettysburg Address. "Like. Because it's by A. Lincoln, it's pa- 
triotic." 

Before Coins Were Made. "Like. Because it tells what people ' 

did in ancient times concerning money. How the iron hoes were 
used in China. About the ants and the gold they took out of the 
ground. What traders used and what the Indians used for money. j 

How the people in Virginia used tobacco for money." \ 

B. D. — What Constitutes a State. "Like. Because it is so well I 

expressed and you can learn something from the selection." ■) 

Paul Revere's Ride. "Like. Because of the patriotism shown and 
the continuous rhythm throughout the selection." 

Marco Bozzaris. "Like. Because it is so vividly pictured and 
very natural." 

Paper Money. "Like. Because I have found the value of paper 
money and the way and means of making it and practically remak- 
ing it." 



INFORMATIONAL MATERIAL FOR COURSE IN READING 9 

C. D. — Marco Bozzaris. "Like. I like this because it is a war 
story and is exciting." 

Christmas at the Cratchits\ "Like. I like this because it seems 
so much like a true story." 

After writing more than a page on the Community Life Leaflet, 
C. D. closed by saying she liked the leaflet "because it tells all 
about the making of money, the history of money, how they traded 
goods of different sorts instead of using money, designing of money, 
how government taxes and collects taxes, national, county, state, 
and public expenses. This (the history of money) is all very in- 
teresting." 

Although the term patriotism is not mentioned at all in the 
pupils' responses, references to civic information are made by 
practically all of them. In striking contrast with these state- 
ments are the inane comments made by scores of pupils on such 
patriotic selections as What Constitutes a State and the Gettys- 
burg Address. The civic value of the selection entitled Money 
in the Community and the Home is clearly brought out by 
over one hundred of the responses in Table XX. These tabu- 
lations are based upon such clear-cut statements as the fol- 
lowing : 

"Tells where the public money goes." 

"Tells how money is collected through taxation." 

"Shows how money should be spent and that so much should be 

allowed for each thing." 

"It teaches the child how to save by making budgets." 

"It tells the actual cost of things that I didn't know cost so much." 

"My family is interested in government doings." 

"It shows what carelessness and money wasting will do, therefore, 

we should save our money." 

The same pupils wrote as follows about the Gettysburg 
Address : 

"I like it because it was written by a good man and tells us a 
great many things in a few words." 

"Like. Because it gives glory and brings out the point." 

"Like. Because it was written by one of the greatest men the 
United States ever had." 

"Patriotic — spoken by a great man." 

"I like it because it is from the mouth of Abraham Lincoln." 

"Like. Because about a great battle and because it is about Lin- 
coln." 

"Like. Because Lincoln spoke it, and because he spoke it with a 
lot of meaning." 



94 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

The comments on the Gettysburg Address are given in full; 
those on Money in the Community and the Home only in part. 
This comparison is not for the purpose of showing that the 
Gettysburg Address is a poor selection. The purpose is merely 
to show that pupils are greatly interested in such informational 
passages as the Community Life Series, and to point out the 
fact that the older informational selections designed to deal 
with similar topics may require more careful teaching than 
those written by experts especially for school use. Indeed, 
many important selections in current use seem to be very 
hazardous teaching material. 

Teachers' Evaluations of the New Informational 
Passages 

Table XXI shows the grades in which the selections from 
the Community Life Series were tried by teachers and the de- 
gree of success reported by them. In order to show the shift- 
ing of the degrees of success from grade to grade, the responses 
of teachers from all grades in which these selections were used 
are given. This shifting is shown by the higher percentages 
of teachers giving favorable ratings to the material in succes- 
sive grades. On the one hand, the per cent of teachers who 
graded the selections as "Poor" (C) decreases from 13 per 
cent in Grade IV to 3 per cent in Grade VII (in Grades VIII 
and IX, no teachers rated the selections as low as C). On the 
other hand, the per cent of teachers who rated the selections as 
"Highly satisfactory and understood by the pupils" (A) in- 
creases from 29 per cent in Grade IV to 94 per cent in Grade 
IX. 



INFORMATIONAL MATERIAL FOR COURSE IN READING 95 

TABLE XXI 

The Percentages of Teachers of Grades IV to IX Who Placed 

Each of the Different Estimates on the Commttnity 

Life Series* 



Grades 


IV 


V 


VI 


VII 


VIII 


IX 


Degree of 
success 


Number of 
teachers: 


31 


50 


59 


34 


34 


16 


A— 




29 
58 
13 


68 

30 

2 


71 

24 

5 


62 

35 

3 


65 
35 


94 


B _ __ 


6 


C __ __ _ 




D 



















Total number of teachers judging, 59. 



♦The success is rated from A, excellent to D, complete failure. 

Owing to the small number of responses from Grade IX, 
the ratings for Grades V to VIII possess greater significance 
than those for Grade IX. In the later grades, about two-thirds 
of the teachers regard these passages as excellent. The condi- 
tions under which they were read may have had something to 
do with the lack of outstanding success in some school^. Evi- 
dence of insufficient time for reading them was found in the 
statements of some of the teachers who reported to the ques- 
tionnaire; a considerable number of teachers began with the 
earlier numbers of the series and did not reach the selections 
under discussion'. A rating of either "A" or "B" indicates 
that a selection is successful. Hence, the responses show that 
nearly 100 per cent of the teachers found the selections good 
if not superior. So high a rating by teachers was obtained by 
only a few of the selections in the readers most frequently used 
in these grades. The data indicate that these informational 
selections can be successfully used in Grades V to IX ; children 
in the later grades do not find the selections too easy in either 
content or style. The use of this material is far less hazardous 
for the teacher than the use of standard informational selec- 
tions. The amount of time given to such material would not 

•The eelections here discussed are numbers 21 to 24 of the entire 
Community Life Series. Only the reports of teachers who used these 
four selections appear In any of the tables of this study. 



96 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



deprive the pupil of acquaintance with as much standard litera- 
ture as he now reads, if the course in reading were so adapted 
to the child's maturity that detailed explanations of content 
could be omitted. 

TABLE XXII 

Gbades fob Which Teachers Recommend the Use of Informational 
Selections Contained in the Community Life Series 



Selections 



Number of Number of teachers for each grade 
teachers IV V VI VII VIII IX 



Before Coins 

Were Made . . . 
The Minting of 

Coins 

Paper Money . . . 
Money in the 

Community and 

the Home. . . . 

Total recommendations 
for each grade 



49 

52 
50 



50 



4 
14 



10 

11 

8 

7 
36 



16 

14 
15 



14 

59 



10 

14 
12 



12 

48 



10 
33 



3 
11 



In addition to the statistical data given in Table XXII, the 
following comments of teachers of Grades VII and VIII sup- 
port the conclusion that such informational material is valu- 
able: 

"Information excellent for teachers as well as for pupils." 
"Content good, but diction too diflBcult for the material to be 
satisfactorily handled by pupils of sixth and seventh grades." 
"Material good but too diflScult for seventh grade." 
"Interesting and practical." 

"Material not found elsewhere is here well written." 
"Good supplement to American History." 

The tone of these comments as well as those of teachers in 
lower grades indicates that these selections are better adapted 
for use in the later grades than in the lower. 



INFORMATIONAL MATERIAL FOR COURSE IN READING 97 

The Contrast Between Teachers' Reactions to the New 

Informational Literature and Their Reactions to 

the Older Informational Literature 

In marked contrast with the success of the informational 
passages already discussed is the utter lack of success of the 
informational selections found in some of the readers in cur- 
rent use. Table XXIII shows the reactions of teachers of 
Grades VII and VIII to this older material. The most strik- 
ing feature of- this table is that nearly all of these selections 
were rated as failures by all of the teachers who mentioned 
them. Indeed, of all selections mentioned as undesirable, these 
selections are in greatest disfavor. They are said to be over- 
mature in content, words, or style. There is a very high 
correlation between the judgments of pupils and of teachers 
so far as pupils read the older selections. 

The selection entitled Before Coins Were Made avoids any 
reference to the child's presumed interests. The child is not 
told that he "will be interested in learning" about something. 
There is no apology for the selection. The account is allowed 
to stand on its own merits. These merits are exemplified in the 
first paragraph, the characteristics of which are such that it 
would receive a high rating even if judged by standards 
designed for evaluating standard poems, tales of adventure, or 
romances. This first paragraph with its interesting action, 
suggestions of adventure and heroism, interesting characters, 
problems, and information is as follows : 

When the agents of the Hudson's Bay Co. began to trade with 
the Indians they found it useless to talk about the prices of the 
things to be bought and sold in English money. The Indians 
did not want silver or gold. They wanted guns and knives and 
food and clothing. In return they brought furs to the trading 
stations. Among the Indians everything was spoken of as worth 
a certain number of beaver skins. Traders found that they could 
deal with the Indians much more easily by saying guns and 
other things cost so many skins. For example, a gun cost 20 
skins. 

Throughout this informational account are many picturesque 
details which appeal to the reader's interests and serve to hold 



: i 



88 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

his attention so that other facts may be presented efifectively. 
For example, early kinds of money such as wampum, dried 
codfish, and the red scalps of woodpeckers aid in describing 

TABLE XXIII 

The Reactions of Teachers to Certain Types of Informational 

Literature* 

No. of Pet. ofua- Qualities mentioned 

times favorable and the frequencies of 

Selections mentioned responses each quality 

Grade VII 

The Mystery of 26 81 Too mature 21 

Life Interesting problems 4 

Early Conquests 19 100 Too mature 8 

Hard constructions 8 

Too abstract 3 

Wealth 16 100 Too mature 16 

Whcft a Good His- 15 100 Too mature 9 

tory Should Con- Hard words 4 

tain Uninteresting 1 

The Character of 15 100 Too mature 12 

Columbus Uninteresting 3 

The Character of 14 100 Too mature 13 

Washington Unfamiliar subject matter... 1 

Not well told 1 

Genius and Industry 12 100 Too mature 11 

Uninteresting 1 

The Moral Rights 12 100 Too mature 8 

of Animals Hard constructions 6 

The Desert 11 73 Too mature 6 

Geographical information 2 

The Settlers of 9 77 Too mature 2 

New England Hard constructions 1 

Uninteresting 1 

History and biography 1 



INFORMATIONAL MATERIAL FOR COURSE IN READING 99 

Grade VIII 

Munera Pulveris 19 95 Too mature 16 

Uninteresting 12 

Interesting information 1 

Abstract 3 

The Renunciation 15 100 Too mature 15 

Uninteresting 1 

Wisdom and Pru- 11 100 Too mature 9 

dence Uninteresting 4 

Immutable Justice 9 100 Too mature 4 

Uninteresting 3 

Hard Words 4 

•Based upon responses to Questionnaire I. 

early media of exchange. In another place, the beginnings of 
metal money are described. The story which Herodotus tells 
of the huge ants bringing up gold when they burrow and the 
story of the use of iron hoes as a medium of exchange in China 
aid in enlivening this part of the account. 

Although the other informational selections used have some- 
what less of the picturesque, they describe matters which pupils 
find very interesting. The pupils referred to nearly all of the 
processes described in their comments on The Minting of Coins 
and Paper Money. Table XX shows that pupils are interested 
in this form of action, problems, and general information. In 
their comments on Money in the Community and the Home, a 
large amount of interesting and familiar subject matter is 
shown to introduce pupils to facts which otherwise might be 
very dry. Pupils frequently mentioned the information about 
expenditures of public money which they "did not know about 
before." Also, in the comments on this passage, the interest in 
discussions of the "family budget" is attested by the forceful 
statements of the eighteen pupils who mentioned it. Parents 
of many of the pupils had been trying to devise a budget sys- 
tem. The enumeration of these facts by the pupils indicates 
that the selections are valuable not only as social science but 
also as interesting and stimulative problematic literature. 



100 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

Conclusions : Guiding Principles Affecting the Choice 
OF Informational Literature 

The forceful statements of pupils indicate their understanding 
of the informational material presented to them in this investi- 
gation. These statements are in contrast with their statements 
about much of the traditional literature upon which they re- 
ported. 

The lack of interest in other informational literature may be 
due to the form in which it is written and not to a lack of in- 
terest in the informational content itself. At any rate, pupils 
almost unanimously favor the newer informational selections, 
although they usually refer only to interesting information. 

If the traditional form of informational literature is used, 
teachers must recognize the difficulty of teaching it and plan 
to do more "teaching" than is needed if the newer informa- 
tional selections be used. 

Informational material, if used, should be written for pupils' 
use by experts and not culled from masterpieces written for 
the use of adults. 

The interest of pupils in the informational passages sub- 
mitted to them is keen even before class discussion or study 
of them. This fact indicates that these passages might, with 
careful teaching, be presented in lower grades than those in 
which we have presented them. 

Interesting informational literature may be written so that 
it will possess the same important desirable qualities as classi- 
cal non-informational literature. 

Social needs of pupils and the amount of teaching possible 
are the best guides for determining the grades in which this 
material shall be used. It is highly satisfactory in all of the 
grades here reporting upon it. 

Of all the inferior selections mentioned by teachers, the 
traditional passages are given the lowest ratings; of all the 
superior selections reported on by either teachers or pupils, 
the newer informational passages are as popular as any. 



INFORMATIONAL MATERIAL FOR COURSE IN READING 101 

Pupils of different population groups show equally strong in- 
terests in these passages. 

Extensive additions of informational literature should b( 
made to the elementary school reading course. This increase 
might be an addition to the amount of matter now read in 
many schools if less time were devoted to oral reading and the 
analysis of over-mature reading selections. 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE RELATION OF READING SELECTIONS TO THE 
STANDARD OF GRADING IN VARIOUS SCHOOLS 

Before the placement of reading selections can be adequate- 
ly discussed, the relation of reading material to the academic 
standards of different schools needs to be studied. The com- 
ments of teachers upon this matter will first be studied, but 
pupils' responses constitute the chief source of information 
and form the basis for most of the conclusions at the end of 
this chapter. 

Differences Between the Grading of Various Schools 
As Shown by Teachers' Responses 

Differences Are General Rather Than Specific. A lim- 
ited number of isolated cases indicate distinctly local differ- 
ences among pupils' reading interests. For example, a teacher 
in an industrial community cited her foreign-born city pupils' 
inability to enjoy the poem entitled The Fringed Gentian. 
Similar statements are made about The Barefoot Boy. Inabil- 
ity to present these selections satisfactorily results from the 
limited experience of many city pupils. In contrast with these 
difficulties arising from local limitations, we find a few cases 
in which advantages result from local conditions. For example, 
Paul Revere and The Great Stone Face appeal particularly to 
children acquainted with the settings of these selections. 

The cases just cited show that local handicaps or advantages 
may at times lead either to a lack or a presence of interest. But 
such specific cases are rare while general cases of another sort 
are frequent. Indeed, a careful search for indications of local 
differences shows that variations in interests and comprehen- 
sion are due to a general lack of familiarity with the material 
in certain passages having localized appeals. The case may be 
illustrated by the comments on Glimpses of the Great Com- 



READING SELECTIONS AND STANDARDS OF GRADING 103 

moner and The Mad Tea Party. These passages are assumed 
to have no local advantages in most cities, yet they elicit the 
same kinds of comments as cited above. These comments 
state merely that the selections contain unfamiliar subject mat- 
ter or that the content is outside the experience of pupils. The 
fact that such comments relate to general difficulties with vari- 
ous types of selections leads one to suspect that the problem 
results from the character of the teaching and grading of pupils 
in certain schools and not from the local appeal of certain 
reading selections. 

So far, then, as local differences are indicated by teachers' 
comments, there are no grounds for excluding material solely 
because it lacks a local appeal. On the contrary, the determin- 
ing matters are the general maturity of the pupils in a given 
school and the amount and kind of teaching possible or feasible. 

Differences of Grading Shov^n by Pupils' Responses 

Among the comments of pupils upon the selections presented 
to them, isolated instances show a particularized appeal re- 
sulting from local differences. For example, some of the chil- 
dren of one school refer with apparent delight to their own 
experiences as backgrounds for two of the selections : The 
Barefoot Boy and The Wreck of the Hesperus. Inasmuch as 
these few comments constitute all of the pupils' references to 
matters of local interest, we turn to the results of the compre- 
hension tests. 

The comprehension questions drew forth answers showing 
pronounced differences between pupils of different schools. 
In Diagram VI, the differences between the responses of 
Schools U and C are shown for selections read in three grades. 
Here appear the percentages of pupils who profess interest in 
the selections designated and the percentages of questions cor- 
rectly answered. In comprehension the pupils of one school 
are at least two grades behind those of the other. Only in the 
case of Douglas and Randolph do the seventh-grade pupils of 
School C reach the comprehension scores attained by the fifth- 
grade pupils of School U. The diagram thus shows a marked 



104 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



loo 
9o 

^6o 
5o 



loo 
90 

S 70 

;^6o 

So 



Intttrost 



Comprehension 




The Borcfoot Boy 

loo 
9o 

q 70 



60 
50 



J 

-—.^ 



6 

GRADES 



loo 

«*• 

7o 

V) , 

«n 60 


— 


-— 




— 




— 




i: 


^^^ 






^ 


































^> 














•< 


_ ^ 


** 






5o 




"' 


'^ 

















Douglas ond "Randolph 
too 



6 
GttApes 




GtZAOCS 



Paal Rerere^s Ride 



^^-——-^rr^^ 



6 7 

Grades *» 

The WrecK of the Hesperus 
100 



100 

90 
3 80 

M 60 










" 






" 


=rr 


k 










X 


-^ 












V 


X 
















<^ 


















So 












:i: 


-- 


1^ 




_ 



GfsXocs 






9o 

« 7o 

i{6o 

5o 



6f7Aoed 



6 
GRADES 



100 

90 

hi 80 

7o 

m 60 


— 






1 












— 


__; 














. 


=:: 


=^ 


M 


< 


** 


















> 


'n. 




5o 



















X 



Baron Munchausen 
loo 



9o 

bJ go 

To 

tf) 60 

so 



6 

GRApes 



6 

GlCADES 



Diagram VI. Comparison of interest in and comprehension of cer- 
tain selections as shown by the responses of pupils of different 
schools. ( — equals School U; equals School C.) 



READING SELECTIONS AND STANDARDS OF GRADING 105 



loo 
9o 
80 
7o 
bo 
5o 



loo 

do 

12 80 

o 70 

o _ 
v> 60 

50 



loo 

V 80 
8 70 

50 



100 

gso 
§10 

50 



80 
30 



Interest 



Dick fVhlttlngton cind 



Cowprehenelpn 
his Cat 











=i 





= 












_^ 


^— -J 


-"" 






" 










































V 


5 


G 


RAI 


jes 


A 


k 



100 
90 






-1 












w 80 
















-^ 


70 


















« 60 


















^ 
















L- 



3 SCAPES 



The Ylllage Blocksmith 










"~ 




1 


^ 








.*-1 


^ 










g^' 














































%« 


J 


6P 


tAP 


ES 




4 



loo 

g8o 
S70 

50 



— 1 1 — 


h 




.=:. 






_^ 


' 


! 



3' Grades 

















































-T' 


== 












' — 








— 


^" 




1 








t 


J 


G 


RA 


DC 


S 


£ 


' 



Phoethort 

loo 

2 70 
50 





















__ 





























■■■■■ 














»— 


-— 






^• 


■^- 


** 










•2 


5 


6R 


AD 


ts 




4 



The Ugly Oucklln^ 



3 GRADES 



too 
9o 
















— 


' 


C 










■-— " 


^ 


-^ 


•^ 




^60 








^' 






























50 
















J 



3 GRADC6 



The WrecK of the Hesperus 





— 


— 


— 




"" 


— 


-A 


- 












,/ 


/ 














y 


/ 




^ 










/" 




^^ 


"' 










^ 
















% 


5 


&R 


AC 


JL& 


t 


^ 


\ 



80 

v)7o 

^4o 

3o 



— ' 


— 


=- 




^ 




— 
























— 


— 


— 


"^ 


"" 






































•s 


5 


Gi 


«AI 


>CJ 


s 


4 



Diagrram VII. Comparison of interest in and comprehension of cer- 
tain selections as shown by the responses of pupils of two schools within 

the same school system. ( equals School B; equals 

School C.) 



106 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

TABLE XXIV 
Correlations Between Different Schools in Interest 





Grades 


Schools 


III 
ABC 


IV 
ABC 


V 

u c 


VI 

u c 


VII 
AUG 


VIII 
A C 


A 


.__ .90 .96 

.90 .86 

.93 .86 


.__ .90 .76 
.90 ___ .69 
.76 .69 — 






.80 .71 


.95 


B 








C 

U 


.88 — 
___ .88 


.70 — .71 .71 — .95 — 
.70 .80 .71 



TABLE XXV 
Correlations Between Different Schools in Comprehension 





Grades 


Schools 


III 
ABC 


IV 
ABC 


V 

U C 


VI 

u c 


VII 
A U C 


VIII 
A C 


A 


89 87 


m m 






_- .82 .93 


— .88 


B 


89 85' ^^ SS 










C 

u 


.87 .85 — 


'm '.88 ___ 


.80 

___ .80 


.80 — 
___ .80 


.93 .77 — 
.82 .77 


.88 -_- 



variability in the grading of the pupils of two schools. It is, 
however, quite unnecessary to go outside a single school sys- 
tem to find great differences between schools. Indeed, the 
differences between the two schools of the same system repre- 
sented in Diagram VII are as marked as those between schools 
of different systems. Here we find that in only one case, that 
of the very easy selection entitled The Ugly Duckling, do the 
fourth-grade pupils of School C comprehend reading material 
as well as the third-grade pupils of School B. In their com- 
prehension of each of the other selections the two schools re- 
main about two grades apart. Tables XXIV and XXV show 
the correlation between pupils' comprehension scores and in- 
terest ratings in different schools. 

The character and amount of preparation of pupils for read- 
ing a selection are dependent upon the locality in the case of 
only a few selections. Among these selections are some deal- 
ing with nature-study. A reading course cannot be regarded 
as satisfactory unless it provides proper preparation of pupils 



READING SELECTIONS AND STANDARDS OF GRADING 107 

for such passages. The dependence of pupils' interest upon 
their comprehension as shown in the following chapter justi- 
fies a flexible placement of reading material. The only alterna- 
tive lies in the solution of the difficulties of presenting reading 
material to the pupils who ordinarily find it very difficult and, 
therefore, very uninteresting. 

Conclusions 

Differences exist among pupils in interests and compre- 
hension of reading material. 

Except in a very few cases, diff^erences are due to varia- 
tions in the abilities of pupils to comprehend reading matter 
rather than to variations in interests in matter which is un- 
derstood. 

So far as interests are concerned, variations do not war- 
rant different kinds of literary material for different localities. 

Local differences may require a different approach to 
and presentation of reading selections which, in themselves, 
lack a ready-made appeal. 

When different schools vary in comprehension so that 
the pupils classified in a given grade are consistently two or 
more grades apart in comprehension, radical measures should 
be taken to ensure a flexible grading of material or an improve- 
ment of teaching or both. 



(I 



CHAPTER IX 

THE PLACEMENT OF READING SELECTIONS 

'< 

In Chapter II several traditional methods of selecting ma- 
terial for reading were catalogued. These methods have led 
to the use of many standard passages by pupils several grades 
apart. The purpose of this chapter is to formulate standards 
for placing passages in the grades where they can be used 
with optimal benefit. 

Teachers' Statements Regarding the Placement of 
Reading Selections 

The Range of Placement of Certain Selections. Tables 
XXVI and XXVII show teachers' judgments upon the place- 
ment of selections used in several different grades. Some of 
these selections are used in different versions in different grades. 
The Pied Piper of Hamelin, for example, in prose or verse 
occurs in Grades II to VII, as shown by the first questionnaire. 
Some selections, as The Ugly Duckling and The Village Black- 
smith, recur from grade to grade until pupils tire of them. The 
reports show that children read and re-read certain selections 
instead of extending their acquaintance with literature. 

Selections Which Gain in Favor from Grade to Grade. 
Another matter shown by Tables XXVI and XXVII is that 
many selections gain in favor in later grades. In the case of 
selections written in many versions of varying difficulty, we 
can draw only general conclusions. Among such selections, 
Aladdin is increasingly popular from Grades III to V; this 
fact may be due to either or both of two reasons : the versions 
in the more advanced readers may be more effectively written 
than those in the primary readers, or the pupils of the later 
grades may be able to appreciate better the story itself. In 
the case of The Village Blacksmith and The Barefoot Boy, 
there is a distinct gain in the percentages of teachers who favor 
substantially the same versions. Many other selections rise 



THE PLACEMENT OP READING SELECTIONS 



109 



TABLE XXVI 

Teachers' Reactions Regarding the Placement of Selections Now 
IN General Use* 



Selections 


Ques- 
tion- 
naire 


Grades in which judged and 
percentages of responses favorable 


Sleeping ( 
Beauty { 

I Saw a Ship ( 
a-SaiUng ( 


I 
II 

II 

I 
II 

T 
II 

I 
II 

I 
II 

II 

I 
II 

I 
II 

I 
II 

I 
II 

II 

I 
II 

I 
II 

I 
II 

I 
II 

I 
II 

I 
II 

I 
1 II 


I 

"si" 

85 


II 

67 
96 

97 
98 
98 
94 
88 
97 
79 


III 

82 
99 

86 


IV 

62 


V 


VI 


VII 


VIII 
































85 

"97' 
100 

96 
100 

48 

55 












The Pied Piper ( 

of Hamelin . . . ( 
Rohinson | 

Crusoe ( 

The Sand- | 

piper ( 

Cricket on the { 

Hearth ( 


96 
97 
92 
92 
33 
85 

41 
100 
75 

21 
36 
64 
80 
94 


79 
97 
90 
93 
80 
94 

66 
60 
82 
40 
57 

92 
86 

68 
93 
66 
13 

58 


94 
94 
86 
93 


100 
90 


"'88' 














90 

62 
92 
94 

78 
74 
33 
80 
90 
88 

83 
90 

77 

11 

18 










93 

100 

100 

87 

87 




Rip Yan S 
Winkle ( 






93 






67 


98 


The Great ( 






88 


Stone Face. . . \ 








96 












Image ( 

Horatius at ( 








75 
92 
96 

94 
95 
94 

27 
80 

"51' 

48 

14 

36 
100 

46 
100 

93 


84 








100 


t?ie Bridge . • •\ 








98 


Lochin- | 
'oar ( 








98 


The Legend of ( 

Sleepy Hollow\ 

Thf Skeleton in ( 










85 










100 










50 












92 


Elegy \ 
(Gray) \ 

The Vision of \ 
Sir Launfal . . . j 










53 












44 












72 












57 


91 












14 


topsis j 

The Prisoner of \ 
Chilian ( 














57 


























36 
"53' 


58 


The Man With-^ 
out a Country.] 










88 
63 


100 







1 


1 


97 



♦The percentages 
teachers responding 



of favorable responses are based on the number of 
for each of the grades. 



110 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



TABLE XXVII 

Teachers' and Pupils' Reactions Regarding the Placement of the 
Selections Presented to PuprLS"" 



Selections 


Ques- 
tion- 
naire 

or 
Pupils 


Grades in which judged and 
percentages of responses favorable 


The Leak, in f 


QI 

QII 

Pupils 

QI 

QII 

Pupils 

QI 
QII 

Pupils 

QI 

QII 

Pupils 

QI 

QII 

Pupils 

QI 

QII 

Pupils 

QI 

QII 

Pupils 

QII 
Pupils 

QI 

QII 

Pupils 

QII 

Pupils 

QI 

QII 

Pupils 

QI 
QII 

Pupils 


I 


II 


III 


IV 

100 

99 

96 



38 
37 


V 

100 
99 
99 

60 
38 


VI 


VII 


VIII 


the Dike \ 






100 
97 








1 












f 












Excelsior \ 








"47" 


88 
69 




1 






39 
25 
86 
65 


66 







79 




Phaethon 


97 
61 
100 
94 
91 
69 
83 
85 
86 
75 
68 
93 
99 
91 
63 


97 
67 
100 
97 
97 
















The Village ( 












Blacksmith . .< 





64 


80 
88 
62 
91 
90 
20 
69 


94 
97 


80 


81 


The Ugly f 










Duckling . . . .< 




90 












85 

"94" 
81 








The Barefoot ( 






91 
96 

87 






Boy \ 






91 

100 


93 
99 


Dick Whitting- f 


"n 


100 

87 


100 
97 
89 




ton and His 










Cat 


88 
89 
52 
90 


84 






Abou Ben 

Adhem ' 
















53 


55 


55 


f 








94 

66 

80 




Cosette \ 




















75 
31 
52 
100 
95 
86 


90 








The Wreck of ( 

the Hesperus. I 

Aladdin and Hisf 
















66 
93 
97 
87 
92 
83 
64 


71 

90 
98 
93 


74 


85 


78 


60 
68 


"79" 




Wonderful \ 








Lamp 


84 


81 




Paxil Revere' s f 








Ride \ 






77 


"76" 


97 
92 


96 
94 


95 


1 






100 



•The percentages of favorable responses are based on the numbers of 
teachers or pupils judging tha selections In the different grades. 



THE PLACEMENT OP READING SELECTIONS 



111 



TABLE XXVII— (Continued) 



Selections 


Ques- 
tion- 
naire 

or 
Pupils 


Grades in which judged and 
percentages of responses favorable 


The One-hoss { 
Shay \ 

The Gettysburg f 
Address \ 


QI 
QII 

Pupils 

QI 

QII 

Pupils 

QI 

QII 

Pupils 

QI 

QII 

Pupils 

QI 

QII 

Pupils 

QI 

QII 

Pupils 

QI 

QII 

Pupils 

QI 

QII 

Pupils 


I 


II 


III 


IV 


V 

100 
91 


VI 


VII 


VIII 

100 










94 

67 


100 
76 


96 










82 























72 
81 


92 

82 
18 
83 
34 
72 
88 
89 


100 












82 


I 
The Chambered f 












88 










30 


"li" 


93 













34 


Douglas and 
Randolph • 

































59 



70 

78 


70 


98 














se7i Tales . . . .- 








54 


69 

76 


74 
84 
100 
84 
86 
97 
99 
86 

74 
44 












84 


(- 












Marco Bozzaris . ■ 














97 










81 

100 

73 

81 


84 
86 
92 
84 


84 
97 
90 
84 


90 


Christmas at f 










the Cratchits\\ 








98 






90 


What Consti- f 






tutes a State.- 










97 




1 





31 


55 



in favor from grade to grade. This is shown in Tables 
XXVIII and XXIX. When one finds these selections placed 
far earlier than the grade in which they find greatest favor, 
he may well question the grading of a course of study unless 
unusual conditions on the part of either the teacher or the 
pupils justify the placement. 

Selections Which Decline in Favor from Grade to Grade. 
Other selections rise to a maximal percentage of teachers 
favoring them and then gradually decline as shown in Table 
XXX. Decline in favor occurs less frequently than rise in 
favor because many selections are attempted long before they 
begin to be appropriate, while few are used after they become 
too easy. Among the few clear cases of this sort is The Ugly 



112 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

Duckling which is usually more popular in Grade III than in 
Grade IV. In the second questionnaire, the percentage of 
teachers favoring this selection declines from 90 per cent in 
Grade III to 83 per cent in Grade IV. The pupils' favorable 
judgments on this selection show a corresponding decline from 
90 per cent to 85 per cent for the same grades. Picciola de- 
clines similarly from 94 per cent in Grade V to 77 per cent in 
Grade VII. There is evidence that the same conditions hold 
also for The Little Match Girl which is judged as too immature 
by 20 per cent of the teachers in Grade V ; likewise, Hiawatha 
declines from 97 per cent in Grade V to 86 per cent in Grade 
VI where 6 per cent of the teachers criticise its immaturity. 

Agreement of Teachers Regarding the Need for Flexibil- 
ity of Placement. If some teachers agree on the suitability 
of a selection for one grade, others agree on its suitability foi 
one or two adjacent grades. As examples of this extended 
agreement, Rip Van Winkle, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, 
and Horatius at the Bridge are agreed upon as suitable for 
Grades VII and VIII, with a strong probability of success in 
Grade VI. In very few cases do we find single grades as 
the outstanding positions in which selections are successful. 
Consequently, a general principle of placement may be ad- 
duced, that is, if a selection is highly desirable for any given 
grade, it is likely to be a favorite in at least one adjacent 
grade. The placement of a selection in one particular grade 
will depend on some additional consideration other than its 
possible value from the grade teachers' point of view; such 
considerations, for example, as the academic standards in a 
given school, the social value of the selection, or its relation 
to other school work. 

The Relation Between Comprehension and Interest of 
Pupils. The correlations between pupils' comprehension 
and interest for each grade and for all grades taken together 
are either "marked" or "high." Before discussing these cor- 
relations, several exceptional cases will be discussed. First, 
some selections, as Paul Revere's Ride, are interesting, al- 
though the pupils' comprehension scores for them are only 
fair; such selections are always found to contain one or more 



THE PLACEMENT OF READING SELECTIONS 



113 





M 




> 


> 


l-H 


> 


> 


1— 1 


l-H 
l-H 


1— 1 


>-^ 


1— 1 




>. 




0) 






h^ 


)-« 


HH 


> 


HH 


> 




> 


HH >-H HH HH HH HH HH 


^ 




P( 


03 












f> 


> 


>>>>>>> 


03 




« 


o 


o 


m 


OJ 


(1) 


a> 


<X> 


(U 


(U 


<D 


<D 


C^ 0^ OJ Q^ Q> 


c 




JS 




73 


t3 


13 


73 


T3 


ts 


X3 


-a 


-o 


T) 


*X^ '^ T3 '^ '^ 'CJ '^ 







■<-> 


o 


Clj 


a 


rt 


cS 


C3 


C3 


rt 


nJ 


a 


03 


o3 o3 c^ cd oj c^ c^ 


V-> 






QJ 


(i 


u 


^ 


^ 


;-i 


^ 


u 


u 


u 


U 


SH L4 (h >-l «H Ul ;-l 







>. 
^ 


a3 


o 








OOOOOCSOOciOOOC^ 


<u 






to 


rt 


c 


a 


ei 


fl 


.s 


a 


P 


a 


P 


p p p ti p a fl 




tn 




-o 


a> 


•i-( 






•pH 












•^ 












+j 


■t-> 


•♦J 


4J 


-M 


-4-J 


■l-> 


■•-> 


+j 


-l-> 








3 


fl 


iH 


pi 


C! 


13 


c 


p 


P 


p 


P 


p p p p p p p 






« 


e) 


O) 


<u 


<u 


a> 


v 


<JJ 


ai 


<v 


0) 


0) 


0) 05 C^ Q> C) Q> 


■*-* 




ci 


o 


V 


u 





« 


u 


<y 





« 








« <y <y « 








a 


3 


^ 


(-< 


«-l 


^1 


^ 


u 


u 


(h 


(h 


»H 


^ ^ (h ^ (h ^ ;h 


P. 




OJ 


0) 


s. 


<D 


a> 


<D 


Qi 


a; 


CU 


(U 


o> o> fl> Q^ o> a> cp 


CG 






m 


p< 


a 


A 


Pi 


Pi 


Pi 


Pi 


Pi 


Pi 


Pi P( Pi Pi Pi n Pi 


4) 




en 


^ 
o 


00 


05 


05 


t- 


CO 


lO 


CO 





CO 


t£> 


CO 00 CO 00 O) C<J t- 








1 


0> 


03 


05 


05 


OS 


05 


CI 





a> 


m 


0> 0> O) c^ 


r^ 


1 


"3 


o 





























0000000 


^ 


03 




•<-> 


■I-) 


-W 


+J 




■*-> 


-u 


■(H> 


-u 


■u 







(6 


O 


a 

o 


KH 


1— 1 


1— 1 


1— 1 

l-H 




1— 1 
1— 1 

l-H 


l-H 
HH 


HH 
HH 


HH 

>-< 


HH 
HH 


HH HH 


a 

3 


o 


+-> 


<£ 


a> 


<o 


0) 


<» 


0) 


(1) 


QJ 


<x> 


Ol 


(p 05 0> Q^ G? 


-a 


05 


•-I 


•o 


^3 


Ti 


-o 


■a 


-o 


-a 


TJ 


-o 


-3 


73 XJ 'O 'O 'TIS XJ '^ 


4> 


m 


•O 


CQ 


03 


c3 


rt 


(S 


c3 


rt 


03 


rt 


03 


03 


c3 o3 cd o3 rt rt c^ 


■*-* 


Q 


bO 


4^ 


(4 


t^ 


t4 


(^ 


(1 


Si 


t-l 


t-l 


t^ 


u 


t^ ti u i4 ;-i !-i Sh 




< 


a 


a a ^ a a a a a p a a a a a a a 




a 



iS 03 



« « o o 



ppppppppppppp 

a5<D0JC^0>Q><XlG)flJOOQ^O 
CJOOOOOOOOOOOO 



(l«^;-|^,(HUl»H^4^S-i;Ht-(Ul«H;H>H(H 






ri 03 



C5 



aaaaaaasaaaaaaasa 

- - OOOOOOOOOOOOP 



^ be O O O o 



;i;h(-i;-i(-i;-i;-iS-iSh(-i;-i;-i^ 



OT 03 
05 05 
03 03 



03 03 
05 OJ 
03 03 



03030303030303030303030303 
05Q5O)0^Q^a5d3Oi<l^a>CD03O> 
03030303030303030303030303 



«HlH(-l»lt-l«^^»4h»-lSH(HtH^(-<(HSH 






Q CQ A, 



^ I S i 

o o 55 



&5 






ft^ Eh &. 






5^ .2 



« S s 

!«i O e 

§ S '^ 

O ~ 05 

^00 *? +;, V. 

^ « S g 

^ C3 M S 

§ ^ i J 



!» ~. W 

.< «i rfi 
Sh O Sh 



2^ 

(J5 H- 

CQ ;^ 



6h &4 



O (35 



C o 
(Bgi 

>> 

.5 rt 



f 03 

03 O 
> ft 



•O O 



eh2 



114 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



> > > > 



V <D 



c a 






> > 



> > 



c c 



> > 



65 o^ 55 55 55 






(B 0) CU 

fS t, tn 

1:1 o) 01 

W O. D. 

O 00 CO 

*^ o ai 



C3 (D <0 
eg .r-i •1-4 






o o 



ID o) 



01 Oi 

eii 93 



<K OI 



c a 



a 



G d 



13 fl 



ms Gs >> t>> > > 

I— II— I I— 1|— ( HHI— I t— IH- ( I— IhH 






Oc5 Oc5 CjO OO 






s a 

o o 



CO CO 

o> 0) 
to to 



a a 

o o 



in CO 



a a 

o o 



CO CO 

<x> o> 
CO tn 



a a a a 



CO 03 
0> 0) 
Cfl CO 



CO CO 

o> 0) 

CO CO 



^ i2 


,a i2 


,=3 ^ 


.a .2 


•s " 




o -^ 




« -r-l 






^ 9" 

OJ 3 


g ^ 


g ^ 


0, 


H fe 


H Pn 


H PL, 


e Ph 


H Oh 



eq 



ft^ 



THE PLACEMENT OP READING SELECTIONS 115 

TABLE XXX 

Selections Which Are Used Both Too Early and Too Late in the 
Reading Course* 

The rise and decline in the percentages of teachers fa- 
voring the use of these selections in the grades named 
Per cent Per cent Per cent 
Selections Grades favorable Grades favorable Grades favorable 
The Village 

Blacksmith... II 64 V 97 VIII 81 

The Pied Piper II 88 V 97 VIII 88 
I 8aio a Ship 

a-Sailing I 85 II 97 III 86 

The King of the 

Golden River. IV 86 VI 98 VIII 87 
TheWalrus and 

the Carpenter III 86 V 97 VI 81 

•The percentages were derived as in Table XXIX by dividing the 
number of teachers favorable by the total number of teachers 
judgring the respective selections. (Data from Questionnaire II). 

of the important desirable qualities in an obstrusive form. 
Selections of another group, as Phaethon, are comprehended, 
although for definite reasons they are not greatly enjoyed in 
any grade ; such selections are always found to contain one or 
more of the undesirable qualities. Still other selections as 
The Ugly Duckling, Aladdin, and The Wreck of the Hesperus 
are, owing to their somewhat childish content, less interesting 
to pupils of the highest grades in which they were read than 
to pupils of lower grades. As a rule, however, selections are 
both comprehended and enjoyed or else neither comprehended 
nor enjoyed. 

In addition to the questions upon selections as measures of 
comprehension, the pupils were asked to state why they liked 
or disliked each of the selections judged. They found certain 
selections "too hard for our grade," to contain "too many 
hard words," and so forth. These comments on over-maturity 
show a correlation of .77 with the understanding of the selec- 
tion as measured by comprehension questions. Comprehension 
is still further tested by comparing pupils' statements as to 
over-maturity with the statements of teachers about the same 



II 



116 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



TABLE XXXI 

Pupils' Compbehension of and Interest in Selections Read in Drr- 
FEEENT Grades. All Schools* 



Percentages of pupils comprehending or Inter- 
ested in the selections read 



Selections 



Grades: 
The Leak in the fComprehension__ 
Dike (Interest 

^--^-- lES^!^^ 



Phaethon {Comprehension.. 

/Interest 



The yillage (Comprehension. 

Blacksmith (Interest 

The TJgly Buck- (Comprehension. 

ling (Interest 

The Barefoot jComprehension. 

Boy (Interest 



Bick WAi«m3<onff omprehension 



llnterest- 



Atou Ben ^<i?^e;n Incomprehension. 



Oosette lESS^!^!^ 



The Wreck of f/iejComprehension. 
Hesperus (Interest 



^'««- {SS"™"™- 



Paul Revere's (Comprehension. 

Ride (Interest 

The One-hoss (Comprehension. 

Shay (Interest 

Oettysburg (Comprehension. 

Address (Interest 

The Chamtered 3Comprehersion_ 

Nautilus . 



Bouglas and 
Randolph . 
Munchausen 



. (Interest. 
(Comprehension. 

(Interest 

(Comprehension. 



Tales (Interest. 

Marco Bo^^am. .|f '1™^'"?^°''''°- 
(Interest 

Christmas at i/iejComprehension. 

Cratchits' (Interest 

What Cons^ifM^esfComprehension. 

a State (Interest 



III 

88 
97 
21 
39 
63 
65 
65 
88 
73 
90 



89 



71 
75 
73 
52 
59 
86 



IV 

92 
96 
42 
37 
73 
61 
74 
91 
88 
85 
45 
68 
90 
91 



80 
74 
66 
59 
87 
42 
64 



71 
81 



V 

96 
99 

58 
38 

91 
67 
74 
97 
96 
85 
61 
81 
91 
88 
47 
52 
94 
90 
82 
71 
81 
93 
53 
76 



70 
59 
69 

78 



68 
84 



VI VII 



67 

47 



90 
97 



68 
87 
97 
84 
59 
53 



86 
74 
81 
84 
68 
92 
77 
67 
62 
81 
42 
31 
80 
70 
76 
76 
61 
60 
70 
84 
46 
31 



73 
69 



81 
100 



61 
55 



89 
85 
83 
81 
75 
94 
80 
76 
72 
82 

51 
34 
85 
s9 
89 
84 
68 
73 
80 
86 
52 
44 



VIII 



79 

66 



86 
99 



47 
55 



89 
78 



65 
100 
75 
82 
70 
82 
42 
34 
82 
98 
90 
84 
66 
54 
88 
90 
58 
55 



•Percentages of pupils who answered 
questions on the selections read and of 
interested in the selections. 



correctly the comprehension 
pupils who said they were 



THE PLACEMENT OF READING SELECTIONS 117 

selections; here, there is a correlation of .71. Teachers' com- 
ments about over-maturity and pupils' comprehension scores 
on the questions give a correlation of .59. The same compre- 
hension scores give a correlation of .56 with the percentages 
of teachers' favorable responses regarding the same selections. 
If, then, a selection is judged by teachers and pupils as too 
mature, the pupils' ability to pass a test on the selections is 
closely parallel with the stated amount of maturity. 

Diagram VIII shows some of the differences in the amounts 
of teaching required for the success of such selections as The 
Leak in the Dike, Dick Whittington, and Cosette as compared 
with such other selections as Abou Ben Adhem, The Cham- 
bered Nautilus, and What Constitutes a State. This series 
of diagrams shows also the decline in interest in the some- 
what childish selections as The Ugly Duckling, Phaethon, and 
Aladdin, while the comprehension increases. The fairly close 
paralleling of the increase of interest with the increase in 
comprehension already mentioned is shown in many selections. 
The decline in the comprehension scores of Grade VIII has 
been accounted for by the fact that a school which raised con- 
siderably the scores for Grades VI and VII has no eighth 
grade. 

Table XXXII shows the eflFect of a single discussion period 
devoted to eleven . selections in Grade VII in the University 
Elementary School. A gain in appreciation was made in all 
selections except Christmas at the Cratchits' and the selections 
given a very high rating after the first reading. The average 
gain in pupils' interests was 8.68 per cent per selection; the 
median gain 10.0 per cent; the range of changes was from 
3 per cent to 19 per cent. The possibilities of careful teaching 
are here suggested ; here, at any rate, selections enjoyed by 80 
per cent or more of the pupils when presented without com- 
ment, increase in interest when studied for even a short time. 



118 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



9o 

©o 

70 

<o 60 
u 

4-0 
30 
2JQ 



; 




-■'C- 


3 










-.-^ 


"I 


The 


I>ea 


hU-in 


-Ch« 


X>lli 


e 




Dou{ 1q£' and 










/ 








RcgigaoX >h 










/ 






^^^ 


^7^^ 


,^ 


x: 


J 






/ 






^ 


/^ 


y^ 










y' 


E^oe 


thov 






/■ ^y 


■Excelsior | 






y 






J 


,^ ^ 


l^ 


/ 


---~ 


_^ 




y^ 


""""— 1 






^^ 


>" 


- 














J^ 










/ 




/ 












/ 






/ 












/ 






^^^ 


\ i 1 




— 


—/. 


I j 


•''' 














/ 














/ 


















/ 




1 















+ 5^ 6 

Grades 



too 


-^^^ 




1 1 


P-. L- 





1 ■, 


9o 


■^1 


r 




.L^ 


'h«] 


iar«1 


■"oot 




^'^^-A 


Dtick 


lino 




~^ 


P- 


— 


Bdy 


^ 


fio 


z: 




^">: 


^ 


,^ J 




.^V^ 






X 






10 




^^ 


— ?n 


r — r 


y^ 








^^' 


/• 


1 


, --> 








<o 60 


^^' 


F-' 




-y 


^ 




















-/i 




N, 




5o 






/ 




— y 


sr_-- 





— 




N, 








^ 




y 


Al 


ou 1 


ttni 


asnioi 


^ sj 


4o 






















3 


-) 


1- 


k 


6RA 


DES * 


9 




r 


8 



loe 

























9o 








^^-1 


-, 






/ 


1 










__ 


Y'-^ 




^ 


■"^^ 


,,^ 


X 








a^ 


Al< 


ddiii 


on« 


i hi! 


> 1 




21^ 


.^ - 


— - 


. — — 


_ 


Kozj 


»d«H 


ul I 


M!S^ 








'-^ 


] 






87o 
(9 








/ 




» 


'*A)ij 


^SBQ 


^ 










/ 








^ 


i^ 








6a 






/ 








x' 


































So 


























5 


A 


^ 




»6R/ 




> 


7 




( 


\ 



Diagram VIII. Graphical representation of changes in pupils in- 
terest in and comprehension of certain selections in successive grades. 

Based on Table XXXI. ( equals Comprehension ; 

equals Interest.) 



THE 



PLACEMENT OF READING SELECTIONS 



119 






Diagram VIII— Continued 



120 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



TABLE XXXII 

Pupils' Reactions Toward Reading Selections Before and Aftee a 
Brief Class Discussion* 

Before discussion After discussion 

Selections per cent favorable per cent favorable Change 

The Wreck of the 

Hesperus 78 97 19 

Aladdin 66 77 11 

Paul Revere's Ride 97 97 

The One-hoss Shay 81 100 19 

The Gettysburg 

Address 81 88 7 

The Chambered 

Nautilus 40 52 12 

Douglas and 

Randolph 97 94 -3 

Baron Munchausen 87 93 6 

Marco Bozzaris 69 83 14 

Christmas at the 

Cratchits' 84 84 

What Constitutes a 

State 50 60 10 



•Grade VII, School U. From 29 to 32 pupils reported upon each 
selection. 



Comparison of Teachers' and Pupils' Reactions to 
Reading Matter 

A comparison of pupils' and teachers' statements shows the 
degree of reliability of the judgments of carefully selected 
teachers. Table XXVII show^s that The Ugly Duckling was 
favored by 91 per cent and 83 per cent of the teachers of 
Grades III and IV, respectively, and by 90 per cent and 85 per 
cent of the pupils of the same grades. The reliability of these 
teachers' judgments of The Village Blacksmith is about equally 
great; they rate it favorably as follows in four consecutive 
grades : 80 per cent, 94 per cent, 97 per cent, and 94 per cent ; 
pupils of the same grades favor it in the following percentages : 
88, 91, 97, and 97. For some selections, the evidence from teach- 
ers is not so reliable. As an example, in Grade V Abou Ben 
Adhem is favorably rated by 89 per cent of the teachers, while 
only 52 per cent of the pupils favor it. Inasmuch as only 63 
per cent of the teachers favor this selection in the preceding 



THE PLACEMENT OF READING SELECTIONS 121 

grade, a question is raised as to its desirability for either grade 
as shown in the following test of results. This test consists 
of a study of the additional comments made by teachers as well 
as the mere statements that the selections were or were not 
desirable, and of the regularity of increase or decrease in the 
number of favorable comments on selections. The latter con- 
sideration is illustrated in the case of What Constitutes a State. 
Here, 97 per cent of the teachers of Grade VIII favor the 
selection although only 74 per cent favor it in Grade VII and 
those not favoring it make very forceful comments on its 
demerits. Besides, the twelve eighth-grade teachers who men- 
tioned this selection in the responses to Questionnaire I were 
unanimous in their disapproval of it. Therefore, in the light 
of these judgments taken as a whole, the selection should be 
regarded as very hazardous, even for Grade VIII in view of 
the teachers' comments alone. Teachers' judgments on the 
other selections catalogued in Table XXVII were studied in a 
manner similar to that just described for What Constitutes a 
State. Insofar as pupils' judgments are correct, the teachers 
erred only in the case of the following selections and only in 
the grades checked (v) : 

Grades: III IV V VI VII VIII 

The One-hoss Shay v v 

Baron Munchausen Tales v 

These selections are, however, criticized also by many pupils 
in exactly the same manner that many teachers criticize them. 
That is, many pupils say that they are mere "nonsense" or 
are "silly." We conclude, therefore, that when the responses 
to both questionnaires are considered, one can safely use teach- 
ers* judgments as bases for predicting pupils' interests in rep- 
resentative standard selections, and, therefore, for placing 
selections in grades where comprehension by pupils is possible. 
Another line of agreement between teachers and pupils is 
found by comparing the cases in which both groups of judges 
assert that certain selections are too mature or contain too 
many hard words. Here, the correlation is .71. The accuracy 
of teachers' judgments on this matter can be checked. Teach- 
ers' comments on too mature and hard words give a marked 
correlation (.59) with pupils' comprehension scores, while 



122 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

these scores, in turn, give a correlation of ^1 with pupils' com- 
ments regarding over-maturity. Inasmuch as high correla- 
tions are found in all these cases, we may trust the judgments 
of teachers regarding the maturity of reading matter and 
pupils' interest in it. 

Teachers generally give a slightly higher rating to selections 
than pupils do. Some selections are greatly over-rated, as 
The Chambered Nautilus, Marco Bozsaris, and What Consti- 
tutes a State in Grade VIII and Phaethon in Grades IV and V. 
These cases are, however, exceptional ; a selection rated favor- 
ably by from 90 per cent to 100 per cent of the teachers is usual- 
ly favored by from 80 per cent to 100 per cent of the pupils. 
Out of the fifty-five cases in Table XXVII in which both 
teachers and pupils judged the same selections, only six failed 
to conform to the rule just stated. 

TABLE XXXIII 

Correlations Between Teachers' and PtrptLS' Reactions to 
Reading Selections 

Pupils' interests and comprehension in all grades 66 

Pupils' comprehension and teachers' interests in selections 56 

Teachers' and pupils' comments as to over-maturity of selections. .71 
Pupils' comments on over-maturity and their comprehension 

scores 77 

Teachers' comments on over-maturity and pupils' comprehension 

scores 59 

Teachers' (Questionnaire I) and pupils' interests 63 

Teachers' (Questionnaire II) and pupils' interests .48 

Teachers' (both questionnaires) and pupils' interests 66 

Teachers' interests (Questionnaires I and II) 47 

Teachers' (Questionnaire II) and pupils' mention of "determin- 
ing" desirable qualities in case of selections read by pupils 87 

Teachers' (both questionnaires) mention of "determining" desir- 
able and undesirable qualities in case of selections judged by 
both groups 67 

Summary of Correlations. From the foregoing discus- 
sion we draw the following conclusions: (1) Three kinds of 
teacher-pupil measurement show correlations ranging from 
"marked" to "very high" when taken in any combination. 



THE PLACEMENT OP READING SELECTIONS 123 

(2) Selections which show irregularities of judgments of 
teachers of either questionnaire or of pupils must be regarded 
as at least questionable for use in the grades concerned. (3) 
A classification of selections with reference to either interests 
or maturity can be accurately made by studying the comments 
of teachers upon selections which we have not presented to 
pupils. In order to bring the correlations together, Table 
XXXIII is presented. 

An Optimal Placement for All Reading Selections. In 
the foregoing discussions, reference has been made to several 
diflFerent groups of selections, namely, those in which there is 
a gradual development of interest followed by a decline, those 
in which there is a gradual development followed by a long 
and undetermined period of interest, and also selections in 
which there is little interest until near the end of the eighth 
grade. The data collected indicate that selections of the last- 
named group may be used in only the later grades of elemen- 
tary schools of average academic standards. Selections in 
which there is a gradual development of interest followed by 
a gradual decline should be placed in the grade in which in- 
terest is at its height. Such selections are limited with refer- 
ence to both the lower and upper limits of their use. The re- 
maining group of selections, those in which there is a gradual 
development of interest followed by a long and undetermined 
period of interest, should be placed in one of the grades in 
which interest is great. These selections are limited only with 
reference to their lower limits of use. 

Weighting the Determinants of Interest in Reading 

Selections 

In the chapter on the qualities of reading selections, it was 
found that certain important qualities are the determinants of 
the value of reading matter so far as the interests of pupils 
and teachers are concerned. In order to arrive at a definite 
basis for using these qualities in standardizing reading mat- 
ter, they must be weighted for each of the grades. To obtain 
such a weighting, the responses to the second questionnaire 



124 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

have been used. The total frequencies for the determinants 
were found for each of the grades and, with the frequencies as 
bases, the percentages of each of the quahties — the relative fre- 
quencies — were derived as shown in Table XXXIV. This 
table is read as follows : dramatic action, etc., comprise 14 per 
cent of the comments in which first-grade teachers name any of 
the qualities included in this table, 19 per cent for the second 
grade, and so on. 

Table XXXIV is offered, therefore, as an index of the rela- 
tive importance of each of the determining qualities of interests 
in literary selections for the respective grades. A selection 
containing interesting action and telling about animal play or 
personification is likely to be successful in Grade I. Problems 
involving questions of conduct are frequently found in the suc- 
cessful selections for Grade VIII, and so on. 

The Formulation of Standards for Judging Reading 
Selections 

Guiding Principles for Setting up Standards. Several 
principles may now be stated relative to setting up standards 
for evaluating reading matter. (1) Selections in disfavor with 
both pupils and teachers of a given grade should either be de- 
ferred or not read at all ; for example. Excelsior in Grades III 
to VI. Exceptions to this principle might be justified in schools 
with unusually high academic standards. (2) Selections fav- 
ored by both teachers and pupils can be placed according to 
the units of subject matter to be studied in reading and other 
school work ; for example, The Leak in the Dike in Grades II 
to V. (3) Disagreements of teachers and pupils in which the 
latter give a low rating to a selection indicate that superior 
teaching is necessary for success ; for example, The Chambered 
Nautilus in Grades V to VIII. The evidence for this state- 
ment is found in pupils' original statements even more fully 
than can be expressed by the statistical data. (4) Selections 
rated higher by pupils than by teachers should be used if they 
are worthy as well as interesting, for example, Baron Mun- 
chausen Tales in Grades IV to VIII. (5) In case of the selec- 



THE PLACEMENT OP READING SELECTIONS 



125 



TABLE XXXIV 

The Relattve Fbeqttencies of the Most Important Quauties of 
Reading Selections* 



Qualities 



Dramatic action, adventure, 

and heroic 

Interesting action, 

(not dramatic) 

Humor 

Fairy and supernatural 

Interesting characters, home 

life or child life 

Interesting problems or 

character study 

Kindness and faithfulness 

About animals and per- 
sonification 

Dramatization, availability 

for 

Interesting repetition 

Interesting information 



Grades 



I 


tl 


III 


14 


19 


23 


11 

I 


11 

6 

13 


9 

6 

13 


7 


6 


8 


3 

8 


5 
9 


7 
10 


16 


13 


10 


10 

14 

1 


8 
9 
1 


7 
5 
2 



IV 

27 

9 

7 
14 

12 

8 
10 

6 

4 
1 
2 



V 



11 

14 

10 
10 



VI 

28 

10 

10 

9 

14 

11 



VII 

28 

11 

11 

5 

13 

13 
9 



VIII 

28 

12 

10 

5 

13 

14 



•Derived from Table XI by taking- the relative frequencies for 
Questionnaire II shown in that table. 



tions in which there is a decline of interest from grade to grade, 
there is no warrant, statistical or otherwise, for neglecting the 
indications here shown ; for example, Dick Whittington in 
Grades IV to VI and The Ugly Duckling in Grades III to V. 
(6) The wording of a selection has great influence upon its 
suitability for a given grade ; for example, Aladdin can be made 
suitable for any of the grades from II to VII. This selection 
seems to be as good so far as the plot is concerned for the third 
as for the fifth grade. Makers of readers should not write 
above the grade for which the plot of a selection and its sug- 
gestions are suitable. (7) A "spiral" form of treatment for 
some persistently popular selections may be desirable; for ex- 
ample, The Village Blacksmith might, so far as pupils' interests 
are concerned, be read in Grades III or V or later, and Paul 
Revere' s Ride in Grades V or VIII. (8) A selection as un- 
popular as What Constitutes a State in Grades VI to VIII 
should be looked upon as hazardous teaching material and, 
therefore, be undertaken, if at all, only after special provision 



126 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

has been made for meeting its difficulties. (9) Inasmuch as 
pupils' ability to pass a comprehension test upon a selection is 
accurately judged by teachers, a selection which teachers re- 
gard as too easy or too difficult should be placed in accordance 
with teachers' judgments and with reference to other matters 
such as its social value, possible earlier or later use, interest, 
and other work. (10) The high correlations between teachers' 
judgments and pupils' interests indicate that unequivocal state- 
ments from a large number of carefully selected teachers re- 
garding any selection will be very accurate. (11) A high 
correlation exists between pupils' and teachers' naming of the 
qualities characterizing the same selections. This indicates 
that the teachers' statements regarding the large number of 
selections commented upon by them are very nearly the same 
as though the pupils themselves had made the statements. 
(12) Since carefully selected teachers' judgments are trust- 
worthy, the rehability of their ranking of interests depends 
largely upon the range of selections judged by them. A very 
wide range of selections has been judged by teachers in the 
course of the present investigation. (13) The weighting of 
qualities on the basis of teachers' judgments is justified because 
this weighting is derived from careful estimates of the values 
of many representative selections. 

Attributes of a Set of Standards for Judging Reading Se- 
lections. In order to facilitate the use of results already 
summarized, a set of standards has been formulated for esti- 
mating the probable success of various reading selections. 
These standards have been formulated with the following at- 
tributes in mind : ( 1 ) The standards should enable the teacher 
or supervisor of reading to judge fairly accurately the ma- 
turity of a selection for a given grade. (2) The standards 
should contain a list of qualities of reading selections so 
weighted as to indicate their relative if not their absolute im- 
portance in the school grades. (3) The standards should em- 
phasize the importance of flexibility of placement of selections. 
(4) There should be lists of representative selections for each 
grade so arranged as to show the ratings of the selections with 
reference to both comprehension and interest. (5) There 



THE PLACEMENT OF READING SELECTIONS 127 

should be comments indicating the reasons for differences of 
interests in different selections. The comments of teachers 
and pupils already reviewed supply ample data for providing 
these attributes. 

A Set of Standards for Judging Reading Material. The 
set of standards for judging reading material as formulated in 
the succeeding pages is based upon the foregoing principles. 
A list of the important determining qualities is given with the 
respective weightings for each grade. The weightings are 
the same as those shown in Table XXXIV. The selections 
are classified upon two bases : difficulty and interests. Both 
classifications are made with reference to the reactions of all 
teachers and pupils. In these classifications, the responses of 
pupils have been closely followed. This has led to only one 
marked deviation from teachers' judgments, namely, in the 
case of Aladdin, which has been placed with reference to 
pupils' comprehension of the difficult version presented to 
them^. The reactions of teachers of adjacent grades were 
considered in the rating of selections. 

The literal ratings of selections refer in all cases to the per- 
centages of pupils and teachers favoring the selections and the 
percentages making comments upon the over-maturity of the 
selections. In addition, the comprehension scores of the pupils 
are considered. In the comprehension ratings, the letters have 
the following percentage values : A (very easy) denotes a 
comprehension score of 85-100 attained by pupils; B (moder- 
ately easy), 75-85; C (difficult), 65-75; D (too difficult to be 
attempted), lower than 65. The same numerical values hold for 
the interest ratings : A denotes very interesting; B, moderately 
interesting ; C, needing careful teaching to secure interest; D, 
too uninteresting to be attempted. 

A teachers' comprehension rating for selections is used in 
the case of selections which were not presented to pupils. This 
comprehension rating is based upon the number of times that 
teachers judged the respective selections as over-mature for 
their pupils. The score for a selection is, therefore, derived 



^This version is of approximately the same difficulty as that con- 
tained in the Elson series, Grammar School Reader, Book I. 






128 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

by using the number of teachers judging a selection as a base 
and then computing the percentage of those who mention the 
over-maturity of the selection. 

Inasmuch as the pupils reported upon only a part of the 
selections included, the interest ratings of additional selections 
were also based upon the pupils' probable reactions to them as 
indicated by teachers' comments. For example, in Grade 
V Excelsior received ratings of 58 per cent and 38 per cent by 
pupils for comprehension and interest, respectively. The same 
selection received comprehension and interest ratings of 60 
per cent, 60 per cent, and 16 per cent by the teachers who re- 
sponded to the first two questionnaires. Taking these teach- 
er-ratings as bases, Nuremhurg, with ratings ranging from 3 
per cent to 35 per cent by teachers only is assigned a final rating 
of "D". In the same grade, The Leak in the Dike was rated 
by all judges as from 96 to 100 per cent in both comprehen- 
sion and interest. Therefore, Robin Hood, which was rated by 
teachers as of the same difficulty as The Leak in the Dike, is 
assigned a final rating of "A" upon teachers' judgments alone. 
The "additional comments" are given in the set of standards 
as suggestive of the manner in which the qualities of any selec- 
tion may be judged. 



130 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



m 

n X 

Hi! 

% 

u 

1^ so o 
Q g. O 

«■§ H? 
'A m < 



E-i 0) 

SI 

0) 

O O-i 

O o 
<J a) 



O § 



tn 



^5: 



8 C 

-uQa 

i5s 






53 iH iH 



be S 



<u 



Q1 5 L <* 



~; Ol-a 



'^Bq^s. 






CjCQE-. e^ 1^ t^ 




1 1%^^! 



cr\ « >^ *r « a 









o, ., }» » s e o 





.« 






i-s 


s 


^^ 


s e 


aj 


lO 


o «^ 


Aa, 




oi©-" 


»•§ 


lO 


s< 


CO 




SQCq 
S ^ s 










s 5 a. 




o O ^ 


CQcc w 




Qo&i 


•~.=o 




.' 


Ci 




^ 






© 


p; 
















■^ 








S 




.«■« 


« 


U5 


o S 








O 


pq 


■S^ 


•te 






Ott 






^ft, 




tQ&. 


&^ 



«> *^ K 3 J. 

to to '2 to s 



Sue 
^•2'to >> 

to ^ to *^ 



_ o 
£ ® 



« c 

> DO 

5 P £ 



bo 
C 

JO C 

<l) o 



ft 2z; 



.2 -2" 






^ 

<v u 






o o 



bO'd 


L. 


s 




0) 


^ 




O 


71 


tc oJ 


<i/ 


H 


U 



^^1 M ("H 



W HH 



c fto to 



THE PLACEMENT OF READING SELECTIONS 



131 




-J O o o .•- ? b o 

' ^ <^ ^ ir, <c ^ jg •- o ,<i^ - 










togtoJjitoCo, to- 

• "5 • -fe •§ .JS .g 



11 as^ CO ^ T»< .- u 



S 'fc: 



O 



S to~ 



&H to to ■" S) 

c, to to rt c e 
,g ^ ^ ^ o ^ 






132 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



M 3 





_, 










,« 
























^ 


<-* 




^ 


t 


09 


s 




D3 


<0 


EO 


^ 




m 


^ 


01 


u 




0) 


o 


^^ 


35 






§5 


o 


OCQ 




u 

o 


ccq 








in 


§ ^^ 


^—^ 


8^5 






Sii:§ 




o8S 






Q 


ft,BQ6s 




Q 


Kluge 
Phaeth: 
Sweet 
The Vi 




00 






05 




■2 ^ 






■« 


m 






in 


•J 


to 


Atr 
Sim 
on 
ip a- 
'iper 
ruso 




in 




a 


Bell of 
o' the 
the Mo 
w a Sh^ 
Pied F 
nson C\ 




U 


Bell of 
o' the , 
the Mo 
Pied P 




*> « O rS """^ 


c 




^ 2 o^ 




fr^Bq K^&^Di 


^ 




&-i6q E^ 










t. £ 




•2 =■ 


c 




aS «>^ 




►5 o 


M 




o -S-tt 


lO 


and the 

s 

ting ton 

nd the Ci 

n Touch 

e 

ow and 

eauty 
Duckling 




in 




00 

in 




00 


nglo 
d th 
and 

p a- 

•man 

ruso 
auty 


'^^ 






illy Binks 
ick Whitti 
he Fox an 
he Hare < 
toise 

Saw a Shi 
he Old Wo 
Pig 

obinson C 
eeping Be 


P9 


ndroclus 
illy Bink 
ick Whit 
he Fox a 
he Golde 
luge Els< 
y Shad 
Swing 
ur Flag 
eeping B 
he Ugly 




m 




'jjaiQfr.&,t<^ Ob5&. 






:^Qh^^ ^fr, B^^ 




«> S. i t; 






1 V 




o o ">; -< s 






a o &-, 




* E. "-^ ^ n 






o « 








/-, 






^ 


and the . 
en Band 

and the 

n Touch 

Red Hen 

'ow and 


o 
o 

IH 

in 

00 


he Bremen Ban 

inderella 

he Elves and th 

maker 

fi/j6' in Luck 

he Hare and t 

toise 

he Little Red H 
he Old Woman < 

Pig 

ittle Red Riding 
he Three Bears 
hree Billy Goat 




o 
o 

m 

00 


< 




-< 


Androclus 
The Brem 
Cinderella 
The Elves 

maker 
The Golde 
Hans in L 
The Little 
My Shad 

Swing 




hC>&^ -f^ ctEn sjE^EhE- 






CO V IQ 










tmjs* 


Oi eo e<5 iH o- 


Oi 


00 


io tc in iH 


a-^s 


^ rH rH T-l 








So'3 










1 1 . ra C ' • ' • • 


"O • 


u 


• bfi-C I- 


1 . 


bo 3 


Dramatic ac 
tion and ad 
venture 

Animal play an 
personificatio 

Fairy and su 
pernatural . . 

Interesting ac 
tinn 


Qj 


c • 


O ' 




^ c 01 


c • 


3 


11 

he 
c 

M C 
41 — 


"»c 




3 • 
3 • 

If ■ 

J to 

3i a 


03 w cS 

<D S t. 




01*. 






^1 ^ 


-2* = 

C CO 7- 


01 O 

c 



THE PLACEMENT OF READING SELECTIONS 



133 



■■3.S 



CO 


to 

■a S 

3 


Ul-C 


■"£ 


4) O 


r 






<p a 




Sw, 


03 .^ 


C— ' 


. c 


ri 


>.*-> 


a2 


S-, m 



^2 

■:3 rt 



c 2 5 =« 
® ^-c bo 



.. 


C 


a 


0) 


_o 




01 


03 




c 

3 


aa 


X 














,C 


s 




0) 


C 






d-o 


o 


0* 






01 


to 


01 


<u 


u 


t. 



D CO 

e d 

+-» 

(1} to 



E oj 



MS 
I _4J 



"» £ 



3E 



IS 



os2 
O^a 

g --E 

O ai 



* . 
.■" CO 

ft 'O 

* b 
u tin 



K) <u 



OS 



f^ 0) 

<c o 



bflO 

5 == 



d£ 
S « 

«S 3 

03 
4) O 

££ 



^5 



O 






i^eq 



Os to <» -^ -"^ ^ 

&< tt,E^ "» 'is*"' 
>.■" «> J. >. • 



134 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



M E 

H 5 





__, 




1 














■to 






to 




Ol 






5» 










s 


^-s 


•^ 




/^ 


■^ 


09 






<D 


a 


0) 


S ^« 








o 

CD 






u 

o 

CO 




5s- s-SE-i-o 






Q 


o « oX s 

to^^ 

to to to to**! to 




Q 


The Cro 
The Cza 

Excelsio; 
The Flyi 
The Mad 
The Pur 
The San 




•« ,1 1 




"B 




to !» 00 






to 




c. .ss e 03 






HO 




5 --Ota 






e 




aj -to 






tU 




g-c 5^ 










rst: •« 








m 
t- 


2 S 1^ - 




la 


J ^ o 


ka 


^ 5" e Si "o 




la 


^ 3^ 1 


CO 


S S5.<a 




CO 


ns sc 


O 


Aladdin 
he Boy 

Trees 
affydoicndi 
haethon 
inbad the 
he Throstl 
he Village 
he W air its 

penter 
he Wreck 

perus 


.£ 




he Boy 
Trees 
affydoivnd 
he Endless 
ambikin 
haethon 
inbad the 




_JJ 






• fc-i Q a, £<} &- El tn E-i 


(U 

u 
C 

M 




ir> QtH>^a,0(3 




A ^ to 

to s s- S P 

1 11 «>^ 




i 1^ 


00 






in 

00 


1 .. <l^ 

^ i 8.| 


in 


1 ^ ^s.^ a.'?ss'«^ 




in 


m 


lexandet 

Ins 

he Bell 
oJnmbus 
osette 
he EndU 

Saw a 
nights o 

rows 
nights 

Shield 
ambikin 
he Pied 
he Purp 
obinson 
he Ugly 
he Wind 
he Wish 




PQ 








|o,«5s:s2to 










^ SOOE-H^ta W KqE.,E~Q^E^E^E, 






''J E-iOC^hq 




to 




to 




s o a>, ,^ 






s « 2 




O ^ - O to ^ 






•s| ^ 


^^^ 


,■■5 to •tt'^ tu 




^ 


*~'T'e « 


o 

o 

in 
<x> 


Androclus and tht 

Boy, Bees and Br 

The Bremen Band 

Cinderella 

The Elves and th 

maker 
Hans the Shepher 
The Leak in the 
Dick Whittington 
The Oolden Touch 
Little Red Riding 
Sleeping Beauty 
The Tar Baby 




o 
o 

iH 

in 

00 

< 


Aladdin 

Androclus and the 
Boy, Bees and B'l 
The Bremen Ban 
Cinderella 
Dick Whittington 
The Elves and th 
maker 


w <i> in 








box: « 


CC CO O O O^ CO l~- 


t- 


CD un eo 


.2*^5 


IM >H <-< rH 






Sort 








-t. • t. • ■ U ■ 1 


L^ 


bc • 




1 


1 . 


bo 3 


C • O • o • 


u 


O 






ft 


c • 


^ D" 


O . r- • ' 


rt 


.<*-! 


S ■ 




01 




4) " 


S • -ti cS • m ^ 


Si 


c ^ 


,^ • 




u 




ID 
V 

3 


imatic ad 
dventure, 
eroism . . 

iry elemeii 
upernatur 

imal play 

n d n e s s 
aithfulnes 

cresting a 


V 

be 
c 


eg 


0)5 

-2 


u 
C 


a 

CO C 

<vr 

4n- 


bOo 

4) O 


^«« (^ M r; —Vl -Jj-W *j nS J: CS 


C ft 


p -WO) -UK-I 




G fe -li W £ 


s 




Q 


M 


a 







THE PLACEMENT OF READING SELECTIONS 



135 



^l:q 



"2"^ 

i.'^ 






3 = 









■B 6 



CD" 

is-- 5 » 

. g m C 

££•22 * 

3 <u ni c w 

C O C C 0) t- 



CO <u 



O eS gj £ toT)I3^^ .5(3 

~ 2 g "^Sm g * c a^ 
■ocfe 7 Z~° -2 
■a MS b: Mr, oj ^'C-o^ 



C CD 




■ ■a . 0) ■ C • - • 

iH c hrM *j CO — ■* <l> in t^ 



M.Z rt 



5^5 



o 
9?; « . 



^ S 












'< 






® w m ai 



136 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



H 5 
I 



O 5 



CO a> CO 



m 
to 
V 

O 

\a 
«o 

Q 


r^e Argonauts 

The Barefoot Boy 

Excelsior 

How they Brought the 

Good News 
Paul Revere's Ride 
The Snow Image 


B 

■u 
Oi 

v 
u 

v 

c 

M 


OQ 

CO 
0) 

tl 
o 

la 
to 

P 


Child's Dream of a Star 

The Argonauts 

The Endless Tale 

Excelsior 

How they Brought the 

Good News 
Paul Revere's Ride 
The Snoiv Image 


1 

CO 

u 


Child's Dream of a Star 

Darius Green 

The Golden Fleece 

The Last Lesson in 
French 

The Wreck of the Hes- 
perus 


Ui 

t- 

1 

\a 
to 

O 


Darius Green 

The Barefoot Boy 

The Last Lesson in 
French 

Phaethon 

The Walrus and the Car- 
penter 

The Wreck of the Hes- 
perus 


in 

00 

«>- 

M 


•Aladdin 

The Bell of Atri 

Christmas at the Cratch- 
its' 

Cosette 

The Endless Tale 

Florinda 

Hunting a Grizzly 

The Nurnberg Stove 

Inchcape Rock 

Out to Old Aunt Mary's 

Phaethon 

The Pied Piper 

The Village Blacksmith 

The Walrus and the Car- 
penter 

William Tell 


00 

in 


The Bell of Atri 
Christmas at the Cratch- 
its' 
Cosette 

The Golden Touch 
Hunting a Grizzly 
Inchcape Rock 
The Nurnberg Stove 
Out to Old Aunt Mary's 


o 
o 


Alexander and Bucepha- 
lus 

Black Beauty 

Dick Whittington 

The Golden Touch 

How Cedric Became a 
Knight 

King of the Golden River 

Knights of the Silver 
Shield 

The Leak in the Dike 

The Little Post Boy 

Robinson Crusoe 

The Tar Baby 

The Wishing Gate 

The Ugly Duckling 


o 
o 
.-1 

in 

00 

< 


Aladdin 

Alexander and Bucepha- 
lus 

Black Beauty 

Dick Whittington 

Florinda 

The Golden Touch 

How Cedric Became a 
Knight 



N iH 



M y-i 



2§ : 
i* : 

oj a> o 

s>- 






2ES 



y O ly 



C C 
— ~ (S 



41 <U 



to BJ 



m 



•v 



4)^ 
41 * 



£csj: 'Sc 2c«;s= -.2 



W 



c 

CO 



he's ^ 
- C 1) 

♦J . o 
«} w e« 
* ° ti 

c a o CO 3 
X 






4- C 

« o 



QI-< I- 

l-H M 



s 



THE PLACEMENT OF READING SELECTIONS 



131 






I to 



z -B -^ 

cj m <V G 

t- 03 t- O 

bJ 0) OJ •;- 

■SSc "S 






flj -H 



.5 c * .- 

'" 0) . in 

-fee 3 

3 ^ o 4) 

o c m c« ^ 
43 — Q w "^ 

.2 o o ~ 3 
PQ "Om 



01 



oi 



o — 



IB OCB 

es-a CO -s 
■-£ £ o c* 2 



•« „-'S^ 



S >» S h 

c si 

53 o 



.o 


•* 




ri<: 


•^^s 


e 


'-'■el? 


•-; 


»>.!?* 




.Ss=>s 


rf» 


'<'<< 


fri 



to ^ W W ^^ Q> 



138 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



- fe,- 



a S^ 






to V o 
o to (0 



to s- S 



>^-" to 

,* toAi 
i« sec 



to « 
See 

8 



to 6 
.*:S o 













toS ft ^ 


5 










.§.1.1 


c 

B 

5 






10 




'een 

k of Baldu 

at the Bri 

y Brough 

ews 

end of S 

n withou 

wn the Va 
Winkle 


1 

M 

n 






U 


he Bare 
aron Mi 
arius Gi 
he Deat 
oratius 
ow The 

Good N 
he Leg 

Hollow 
he Ma 

Country 
iping do 
ip Van 


S 




<M 





E^aiC)&Ma;a! e^ &^ a.(« 


J 




1 


, 






>, 







•T^ -i^ to 




5 
< 


> 

Q 



3 

5 

i 

c 




in 
00 

in 




to 

c 


e Match G 
Id Aunt Ma 
age Blacks 
ck of the 


C5 




1 


n 


si 8 
•II 


Littl 
to 
Vill 
Wre 
rus 












15 _ _ to 


t 




UJ 




T^*""* s** '^ 








.C 


^OE^&H 




~* to e 

O *i R,"^ to to 

*-S^-§*« 



8 to>A-C to : 









c> 
















«£ 






to 
to 


5 


^^ 




es 








fc,o 


"^ 


9) 


to 


§1 


© 


b 


^ 


SOQ 


•e 





ts 




V 


lA 


'^ 


^•^ 


to 


CD 








Ss- 


e s> 




to 


to-e 


P 






|«:s 




;s to 




to "S 




to 


to to 


^ to^ 




rfs Hjs-s; 




'j^Klt.t^^Ei 




e 




1 








"S 






^ 


^^ 


S* 






IS 


e-ts 




to to 


t^ 


ft5g 




■^s 


ira 


"^ 









to"^ 

Cl 


II 

to 


1^ 

■OS 

?5 




to to 
*« 


^1 


:&* 




E^&^ 


ft.a-K 






to 


to 






e 


•0 






i. 


0) 




so 




a.^ 




\a 


to 




00 


S. s* 


to 




CQ e 


4^ 


* 




®g 
s 





S-" 

to*s 

to^ 


w 


^1 


§ 






e 


1 


^•vi- 




^1 


3« 


II 




to f- 


1^ -M 


!- ^ 




* e^-* 


■^^^ 




ExKlO 


QtR 








s- 








to 








5^ ., 








■I* to 








0^:« 


^ 


* 




sC) 





10 


to 


6^ 


to 


1^ 
to -5 


00 


to 







•<3 


e ^. 


■w.a 


<J 


s® 
1^ 








S to 




TS^Crj^ 


ts;&. 



60 -^ 



00 


-rf 


^ 





00 00 m 


n 


cq 


(M 


1-1 r-l 


"^ 


rH 










.2§ : 




(D . 

a • 
3 • 


s • 


03 tn a! 







S 




il 


C • 


■■2c.!S 

^15 


c .c 
•^ to cti 

» J: 

4-1 n^-<p- 




Sim 


4) S I, 

:I4 




I- 
c 
F 


c 

3 



01 


d = 


.^(^^ 


gOO [T 


■M-W 




c 


Q 


C 


fa 


« 


w 


1— 1 


X 


< 


Q 



THE PLACEMENT OF READING SELECTIONS 139 






to to 



^ § 



" -a -a ••; ftj 

o O <a "2 



tq 



S 

■2 ?>* 



*;.o to>0 OJ"- 



m O 



140 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



QQ 

I 

i-t 
O 

a 

m 


g 



< 

tf 

Pi 
o 

02 

Q 

Q 

<i 
E-t 
in 



M 3 

^ e 

S 5 

I 

< 

«> to 





» 


S 


5« 


"»-, 




^, 


<X> OS O 




5 




2 §«« t^ 


r 


e 


m 


t-. 


§ ^ot^« 


•^ 


^ 


_2 

o 
in 


^5 


(Select! 
ay) 
Stone 
of Sha 
and Do 
I of Li 
•om th 


•i 

o 




Q 


1- 


randish 
nford 
W (Gr 

Great 

Lady 
•niion 

Psaln 
Rill /J 
ump 

Skele 


ie-2 








Sh;^ 


o o 




'lif^ 


fc^ 


cct^e^ 



01 <a to 



°5 

o o 
^^ 

;a to o 
Estate 









J. to 



h"? 



ai (a,ss 
to to o* 



a, to Ea 2 ;5 
■£ to gjs* 

S sa s=2 
o~ ■« 
C) S to to"?; to 









to 
o> 

•sf to 
^ 05 to g 

^ S s e 

05'« ? 
*J }~ S. to CL 



S •■SO 

S to 

•J* -e to to *^ 

i to^v-oe-w 

_4 ~ O to 03~ g 

";;• BQ toliiCi « " 

~ S ?»*"'« g 8^ 
toS'S-^-So-'i 

to a g s totO to to . 
^ ^ to -S rfs o ji rfi ' 



'Ktol 



8S 



CO k "S *- 'S 05 

^ g to ^ 

c e P to** *" « 



Sisi^ 



o 


"3 


o^ = 


^ 


cq 


'^^^^ 


05 


o 


ar 

n and 
e-hoss 
hephei 


■j^ 


■SrfS 


-g 




^§Q 


5.2 S^O! 
§ So 








to 


=.- 


to 2 to to 


« 


o e^rfS 


bi 


ti^^ii^E^&^i 



SO 



5 05 






^D90 



i 05 es 

roods? 

•■!• to -S o 

oti;!? 



i^S ~® to 

i-~ ^M- to to 
*> *> b ? g ^ » 



00 




iH 


o 


o 


Ol 


00 


n 


CO 


CO 


^^ 


M 




'^ 


















»M eg 


;1*2 


X! fc< • 


o 




t. • 


-o ■ 







C • 


P. • 


^bs 


O ^ ' 


cS 




O • 


««« 


to 

£ 






u • 


^2- 


o o « 


C.OT3 


fac 




3 • 
to • 




NX! 


iHn 


iu) : 


ti 11 a 


to u 

2:2 a; a 


C S CO 


c 

01 

4;.. 


C 




c5 


c 

3 


0, fa 
L. u 

<v 


c 

■;3 c 

m 


■i->cf:^~ 


Z^ OS 


■*-* ■*- 




■5^ 


•'-'4-t 


^ 


-h^i^ 




Q 






1-1 


5 


fe 


W 


<; 


Q 


M 



THE PLACEMENT OF READING SELECTIONS 



141 







«o ^ S 






ti&i 



CQ 



>J (U 









c^: 






O Si's 



142 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 




to 3 



oo 


c 


„ 


»-( r- 


OS 


in 


cc 


M 


M 


1-1 


M 


r-l r-l 


iH j-i 












«■? : 


1 


1 • 


1 




■a • 


1 




Ih 


1 


1 










c • 


;> . 




O 


a ■ 


o. 




.fiH TO , 


a 


O c3 • 


oi 




4) . 


CO 


.<w 




<1> 




^ 


i:s:>. 






C • 


s 

'S 

Clj 

3 


o>;- 




b. 




^ ,r ■ 


o 


a. wo 






W M 


3 • 








cS 01 o 

c > i: 


til) 
n 


im-oS 
C C m 

0, 4) ^ 


c 

a* c 


C 

s 




0! • 

•a-, 

D 


%3 

I'i 


11 

<D O 


be 
c 

m C 
4)~ 

4) -1-1 






*J ^H CU 


■*-< •*- 


= 


"^s-* 






-«->«t-i 


t:* 


G 


^ 


c 


c 


w 


^ 


<: 





c 







THE PLACEMENT OF READING SELECTIONS 



143 






8. S 
» O 






S. 8-2 

s e ^ 



t- >» S S "li 

<» ^ 2 S ■* ^O 



■a « 

S Ok 
5 SP 



CQ 






si 5 






•e 



05 



e S w ~ 



S §531=5 



W ^'Sn <tt W C 
j» .^ ^^ ^ j;» ;i 



<D oo 



ge 



« ©;y^ V V "J -^^ 



sOOhSo 



S ''^ "" o 
c ^ ^ ,is . 

IShE-iQ-C 



ai 



=0r 



CI) ca a ^ 

r" to ^5 to ^ 

"^•w"^ o to w c; 

to tetric-t. f. 



s 5 

o ~ 

to o 

'■S rt to 

e;:s3 



«~ toS to 

as to a~n2 "" a 



144 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



VI 

J? 
O 

H 
O 

J o 

Q 5 
<ij ® I 

O S 
V w 

M *" 

o 

fa 

M 

Q 

H 
W 



Ul 3 



el's 

- S *: 






•i ^ 

S . o 

o * S 

o ~ a a o 

Oi.i£ -S Cc ;«s 

K s e 

•^ <c 8 to 

- ■*.!; O.S 



^ tr) 



^ o 






§8 S !.:S 

g »i 8 toi- 

e o o o s 



°»"S tot, to 

to w^'-^js SwI-^-^Jt. 



h to toj 






£-!2 






5.^ .a 8 






to S 8^ 



^5to 
to «» 
tol" !~ 
H to to 



•^ o 



o o O _ .ss 

~ ;:rh to to o 



o«fii to 

°^ to „ 

S to to o 

S to's to 



:5o 



8"^ =•^ 

0-25 
to *><t.'g 

E^cqcao 



«^5 









B to 
« to 3 

8 O 

^ toU)^; 



^1 






IsJEh 



S. to 5- ?^ 



' o toS 



"=< to to s ^ 
8-SrfS-5'* ^ 



I* 



o rt - 

C C in 






■^ in ^ 

to fc. 



to-t p to 






toSs 

to 
OS 



to 



^ S 43 Si 

ese-gg 

s o *■ 

^ to to Wg 

I rf;,* to " 



IS 

8 9 

*»fe *= 
o o 2 *5 
* fi " 

8^ g-> 
^ 8 to^ ^ 



bo 



S<4-l 



< Q 



b£o 't* 



C--. C 



"> a 

1/ c 
01 o 



to O 



THE PLACEMENT OF READING SELECTIONS 



145 



■2 2" 



£55 

5 e 









cot, 



■a o 



^i^tx-O 



5,to 



to 6 



^ to ^ 

o e o 

^gtoJi 
etoS.^e 

S«S to 






■" to 
to to J- 



to to to 






St3 



05 5 






:ft3,.r^- 



•s ■« ^ to 6 






S ^to 
toK, 






ClKj 



ma; 



*- S> Sj ;j ; 

^•e to 5 : 

S to tojE 

•s * ^ ^ 



to to . 



s'ls 
: 5 '^ S 



to O ;i 

«:fe to s 



146 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

Comments upon the Standards Set Up and Conclusions 
OF THE Chapter 

In order to facilitate the attainment of the desirable results 
advocated throughout this study, a set of standards for judging 
reading selections is presented as an improvement upon tradi- 
tional bases for determining the placement of reading matter 
now in use. While many of the selections are used in several 
different grades, a large number are especially valuable for 
only one or two grades. Errors in the placement of selections 
in school readers and courses of study are usually in the direc- 
tion of over-maturity. Good teaching can be depended on to 
increase interest ten per cent or more in most selections. 

High correlations between teachers' and pupils' reactions 
warrant a weighting of qualities on the basis of teachers' re- 
actions to representative selections. 

The reading matter on which a large number of teachers 
reported did not include any informational literature except 
the traditional. The weightings of qualities in the set of stand- 
ards do not apply directly to such material as that discussed 
in Chapter VII, although such literature receives a high rating 
when judged by the standards for other good literature. 

The standards set up must possess flexibility because the 
amount of time to be devoted to a selection and the responsive- 
ness or academic standard of a class may change a selection 
from the "easy" rating to the "difficult," and vice versa. 

In order to use the standards effectively, one must become 
thoroughly familiar with the style and content of several of 
the selections of each degree of difficulty and interest for each 
of the school grades. 

The standards may be used in judging not only reading 
matter now in use, but also matter proposed for use. When 
used for the latter purpose, the standards constitute a tenta- 
tive scale for evaluating reading selections. 



CHAPTER X 
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 

The purposes of this concluding chapter are (1) to review 
the aims and methods of the present investigation, (2) to sum- 
marize the resuhs obtained, (3) to call attention to the guid- 
ing principles already formulated, and (4) to add final con- 
clusions. 

Aims and Methods of This Investigation. At the be- 
ginning of this investigation, a three-fold aim was set up, 
namely, the collection and organization of data which would 
make possible the detection and elimination of undesirable 
reading selections, the detection of superior selections, and the 
correct placement of these superior selections. In order to es- 
tablish a working basis, the desirable outcomes of the course 
in reading were formulated together with a statement of the 
means for attaining them. In the pursuance of this project, 
several methods of procedure have been employed in order to 
obtain first-hand reactions from both pupils and teachers. 
These forms of procedure include two questionnaires sent to 
carefully selected teachers for their reactions to standard 
reading material and one questionnaire also sent to teachers 
for their reactions to new informational selections. Pupils' 
reactions to representative selections were obtained by direct 
presentation of them to pupils of Grades III to VIII. 

Summarization of Results. The present investigation has 
led to the accumulation of teachers' judgments upon a very 
large number of selections found in basal readers. Many 
teachers report that much of this material is unsatisfactory 
for the grades in which it is used. The most prevalent un- 
desirable quality of reading material reported is its over-ma- 
turity. As evidence of this over-maturity, there are not only 
the testimonies of teachers of lower grades to the effect that 
many selections are too diflficult for their grades but also the 



148 TTNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

testimonies of teachers of higher grades that the same selec- 
tions are successful when used in these higher grades. In 
addition to selections which are undesirable because of their 
over-maturity are selections undesirable because they lack ac- 
tion or a plot, or because they are unreal, depressing, monoto- 
nous, or not zvell told. Selections possessing these undesirable 
qualities are also said to be too long or scrappy. A few selec- 
tions are unsatisfactory in certain grades because the pupils 
have outgrown or become tired of them. A detailed treat- 
ment of undesirable qualities is contained in Chapter IV. 

Although most standard selections are now established 
within two or three grades, variability still exists in the place- 
ment of much reading matter. Among selections which are 
variously placed, are superior passages possessing wide ranges 
of appeal. These ranges of appeal render them available for 
use in more than one grade. Such selections often begin to 
be satisfactory in one grade and thereafter rise or continue 
in favor from grade to grade. Evidence has been cited to 
show that many of these superior passages are unsatisfactory 
in some of the lower grades in which they are used. In these 
cases our data show the beginning but not the end of satisfac- 
tory use. Other selections rise in teachers' ratings but also, 
within the elementary grades, decline. 

Variabilities in the success of selections in different schools 
indicate that variabilities in academic standards rather than in 
population are responsible for this success or the lack of it. 
Clear evidence of this fact is found in the responses of pupils 
of the different schools cooperating in this investigation. Al- 
though great dififerences exist in the character of the popula- 
tion represented by these schools, the pupils do not show dif- 
ferences in interest in the control of the passages read if 
provision is made for the ability to comprehend the content. 
This means that moderately difificult or difificult selections may 
properly be presented to pupils of one grade in one school, 
while pupils in other schools may not be ready for them until 
at least one or two grades later. When different schools vary 
so greatly that pupils regularly classified in a given grade are 
consistently one or two grades apart in comprehension, differ- 



SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 149 

ences in the selections read are necessary unless radical meas- 
ures are taken for the improvement of teaching in the more 
backward schools. In view of the fact that pupils shift from 
school to school, changes in gradation of material for different 
localities are attended with administrative difficulties. These 
difficulties are believed to warrant less consideration than the 
fact that pupils in many schools derive little benefit from se- 
lections which are suitable for pupils of their grades in other 
schools. 

Teachers in widely separated cities agree upon the undesir- 
ability of certain selections and the desirability of others. Evi- 
dences from pupils' responses support the teachers in their 
objections to many undesirable selections. The selections to 
which teachers most frequently object are those which require 
careful analysis by teachers and. therefore, necessitate slow 
reading, make silent reading difficult if not impossible until 
after class study, and lead to verbalism. A few teachers cling 
to these selections with the avowed purpose of inculcating 
moral principles. Most teachers, however, agree that attempts 
to force adult conceptions upon children insufficiently prepared 
to receive such conceptions are futile. 

Selections which are satisfactory to both teachers and pupils 
are abundant. The varied kinds of satisfactory material to- 
gether with its abundance remove the necessity for using ma- 
terial which is agreed upon as unsatisfactory. The character- 
istics of satisfactory selections are set forth in the formula- 
tion of standards in the preceding chapter. 

A careful study of our data on traditional informational 
literature throws light upon the lack of interest of either pupils 
or teachers in the informational literature now available in 
readers. Newer informational literature, however, as dis- 
cussed in Chapter VII finds favor with both pupils and teach- 
ers and provides content which has ample social justification. 
The success of this material emphasizes the importance as well 
as the desirability of having such literature written for pupils' 
use by experts and not culled from larger masterpieces or writ- 
ten for adults. Extensive additions of such material to the 
elementary reading course might be accompanied by an in- 



150 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 

crease instead of a decrease in the amount of general litera- 
ture read if the whole course were more carefully graded, be- 
cause such a gradation would eliminate the necessity for spend- 
ing large amounts of time explaining over-mature selections. 

Setting Up Standards and Guiding Principles for Select- 
ing Reading Matter. The problem attacked in the present 
investigation is chiefly one of setting up standards for select- 
ing and placing reading matter. By reason of the long ex- 
perience of teachers with a large number of selections, our 
problem is the more readily solved. The evaluations of this 
existent and loosely organized body of reading matter indicate 
both the degree of the pupils' comprehension and of teachers' 
and pupils' interests, because they are regarded as basic in the 
selection and placement of material. 

At this point, the question arises whether or not passages 
which are interesting to pupils are, at the same time, appro- 
priate for use in the attainment of the ultimate values of the 
reading course. In answer to this question, carefully selected 
teachers give an unequivocal reply that the ultimate values are 
more readily attained by the use of interesting material than 
by the use of uninteresting material. This reply comes from 
teachers who have used both interesting and uninteresting ma- 
terial and are, therefore, able to speak authoritatively. 

The nature of the replies of teachers to this question of at- 
taining ultimate values by using interesting material may be 
analyzed with reference to the outcomes set up in Chapter 1. 
First, the mastery of the mechanics of reading is said by teach- 
ers to result from the use of interesting material. Mastery of 
the mechanics of reading as analyzed in Chapter I consists 
partly of attaining a favorable attitude toward what is read. 
This attitude, in turn, necessitates both understanding and in- 
terest upon the pupils' part and leads to expressive oral read- 
ing or to formation of habits which ultimately make expressive 
or efficient silent reading possible. Also, in order to progress 
in reading, the pupil must grow in the ability to recognize 
words automatically. Here again interesting reading material 
is said to facilitate the development of appropriate processes 



SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 151 

by reason of the concomitant increase in the desire of the 
pupil to get the meaning from the printed page. 

Second, teachers assert that abihty in interpreting the printed 
page is facilitated by the use of interesting content. Here, as 
in the development of the mechanics of reading, a favorable 
attitude is necessary. That is, the reader should be able tem- 
porarily to assume the author's point of view and must under- 
stand the content of the passage read. Also, the willingness 
of the pupil to analyze the content and apply it to situations 
other than those presented in the material read depends upon 
his interest in the passage. The content of the course in read- 
ing must present problems, interesting situations, or points of 
view which provide for the activity of the pupil in selecting, 
analyzing, and making application. Such activity is, in the 
opinion of teachers, provided by the selections designated as 
superior and placed accordingly in the formulated set of stand- 
ards. 

Third, the development of general culture as presented in 
Chapter I is primarily dependent upon a certain type of exer- 
cise, namely, pleasurable activity in reading. Obviously, such 
pleasurable activity can result only in case the material read 
is interesting to the reader. 

In the development of general culture and ability in inter- 
pretation, there is no necessary objection to the use of passages 
which require careful explanation and presentation. There is, 
however, in the accumulated statements of teachers, strong 
evidence that, to be satisfactory, reading matter must be care- 
fully graded in both mechanics and content, and that the diffi- 
culties must be presented less abruptly than they are in certain 
current series of readers. Teachers as now prepared and with 
present-day facilities as to time for teaching reading, the num- 
ber of pupils in classes, and individual differences of pupils are 
practically unanimous in asking that makers of readers take 
cognizance of schools as they are and select content accord- 
ingly. In the case of the compiler, there is an attempt to de- 
velop speedily an appreciation for fine literature and also 
speedily td extend greatly the pupil's familiarity with litera- 
ture. In the case of the teacher, there is an attempt to teach 



152 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 

her pupils as they advance day by day. On the one hand, the 
compiler is, the teachers imply, inclined toward the logical 
organization of the subject matter; on the other hand, teachers 
are compelled to cope with the psychological development of 
pupils. In order to bring the two points of view together, — 
the ideal of the compiler and the practical attitude of the 
teacher — there needs to be a broader range of literature organ- 
ized with specific reference to the psychological problems of 
the teacher, including the slowly developing ability of her pupils. 
Without commenting on the advance already made in this di- 
rection, we have presented evidence upon the present status 
of the content of readers. This evidence is unequivocal in the 
demand for still further advance in the increase in the amount 
of reading material and its more careful selection and organ- 
ization. 

These considerations have led to the formulation of the 
standards presented in the preceding chapter. In taking cog- 
nizance of teachers' and pupils' interests, these standards are, 
therefore, believed to possess psychological values which have 
been wanting in the plans of certain compilers of readers. 
While these directly practical matters have been held in mind, 
the ultimate values of the course in reading have not been 
overlooked. 

Flexibility in the placement of reading selections is provided 
in the formulated standards in accordance with the responses 
of teachers and pupils. The ratings of the selections in suc- 
cessive grades indicate their probable interest and difficulty. 
This feature of the standards will enable persons who desire 
some easy and also some difficult matter in the course of a 
single year to make use of the collected judgments of the par- 
ticipants in this investigation and will also aid in the selection 
of material adapted to pupils whose academic standing is rela- 
tively low or high for their grades. 

Based, as they are, on the experience of persons directly 
engaged in administering the course in reading, the standards 
of judgment are offered as a guide in the selection and place- 
ment of the content of the course. 



LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 



021 775 133 • 



